Tag: Startups
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Pulse Space wins $40M contract from Space Force to work on space laser power system
An artist’s conception shows a satellite receiving energy from a laser beam. (Credit: Pulse Space via Vimeo) Bellevue, Wash.-based Pulse Space says it has received a $40 million award from the U.S. Space Force to develop technologies for laser-based power beaming and orbital tracking systems. The startup, founded in 2022, is working on a system…
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SpaceX Alumni Have Founded More Than 1,300 Companies, Data Shows
SpaceX’s influence on the space industry extends well beyond its launch vehicles and spacecraft, with new data indicating the company has become a major source of entrepreneurial talent across multiple technology sectors. According to data compiled by Crustdata from publicly available sources and shared with Payload, approximately 1,330 former SpaceX employees have gone on to…
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Founders on the frontiers of space and robotics show off their gadgets and tell the stories behind them
Carbon Robotics CEO Paul Mikesell talks about his company’s LaserWeeder system with a model of Starfish Space’s Otter Pup spacecraft sitting on the table in the foreground. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Four founders of companies on the tech frontier got together this week at a Seattle conference for a show-and-tell about the hardware at…
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Space Northwest teams up with Commercial Space Federation on business accelerator program
Stoke Space has its 168,000-square-foot headquarters in Kent, Wash., where Mount Rainier can be seen on a good day. (Stoke Space Photo) Space Northwest, a nonprofit association serving the Pacific Northwest’s space industry ecosystem, says it’s partnering with the Commercial Space Federation to launch a regional space business accelerator. The initiative will begin with an…
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TerraByte raises the curtain on its campaign to use AI to unleash the power of geospatial data
A screenshot of TerraByte’s software platform pinpoints cargo ships, warehouses, solar farms, mining sites and areas of deforestation. One complex query generated more than 2,000 results that can be further filtered. Click on the image for a larger version. (Credit: TerraByte AI) A stealthy Seattle startup called TerraByte AI is unveiling a software platform that…
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Cowboy Space raises $275M as it seeks 40-60 employees for new satellite and rocket hub in Seattle
(Cowboy Space Corp. Photo) Cowboy Space Corp., a space startup growing out a new satellite and rocket engineering center in Seattle, raised $275 million in a Series B funding round this week that valued the company at $2 billion. The Bay Area-based company — formerly known as Aetherflux — was founded in 2024 by CEO Baiju…
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Portal Space Systems raises $50M as it gets set to launch its first orbital vehicle made for rapid maneuvers
An artist’s conception shows Portal’s Starburst spacecraft in the foreground with its Supernova space vehicle and three more Starbursts (plus Earth) in the background. (Portal Space Systems Illustration) Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems has raised $50 million in a funding round aimed at speeding up development of the Seattle-area startup’s highly maneuverable space vehicles. The…
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Orbital AI: Seattle-area startup Starcloud hits $1.1B valuation to build space-based data centers
Image of a Starcloud deployment of its space-based data center. (Starcloud Photo) Starcloud, a startup building solar-powered data centers that operate in space, announced $170 million in new funding Monday, vaulting it to unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is now the fastest in Y Combinator history to hit that…
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Bay Area-based Aetherflux to join Seattle space race with new hub for satellite development
Baiju Bhatt, founder and CEO of Aetherflux. (LinkedIn Photo) Aetherflux, a Bay Area-based space startup, is expanding to Seattle to open what it calls a “core center for satellite development.” [Editor’s note: Aetherflux has since changed its name to Cowboy Space.] In a post on LinkedIn last week, Aetherflux said its team is growing and…
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Sophia Space raises $10M to accelerate creation of orbital computing systems
An artist’s conception shows the Sophia 40 TILE satellite, with each tile powered by its own solar panel. (Sophia Space Illustration) Sophia Space says it has closed a $10 million seed financing round to accelerate the development of orbital computing systems that could serve as the foundation for space-based data processing. The startup’s tabletop-sized satellite…