By Hannah Huffman, Partner, Aerospace and Defense
The next chapter of the space economy won’t be defined only by how many assets we launch, but by how well we sustain, protect, and operate them once they’re already there.
Over the past decade, space has moved from a frontier domain to critical infrastructure. Satellites underpin global communications, navigation, intelligence, and an increasing share of commercial activity. But as orbit becomes more crowded and contested, the challenge is no longer just access, its longevity, maneuverability, and control. In both national security and commercial markets, the ability to extend the life of space assets, manage congestion, and dynamically respond to threats is quickly becoming a competitive necessity.
For years, the thousands of satellites orbiting Earth, powering everything from GPS navigation to missile warning systems to broadband communications, have been largely static assets. Once launched, they drift through their orbits until their fuel runs dry, at which point they become expensive pieces of space debris. There has been no cost-effective way to refuel them, reposition them, or extend their lives. Meanwhile, the number of active satellites has exploded from roughly 1,400 in 2015 to over 15,000 today, with projections exceeding 25,000 by 2030. The world’s critical infrastructure is increasingly located in space—and we have had no way to reliably service it.
This is the problem Starfish Space was built to solve. And it is why NightDragon is proud to announce our investment in Starfish Space’s Series B financing alongside lead investor Point72, Shield Capital, Activate Capital, Industrious Ventures, and others.
Building an Autonomous Space Operations Platform
Starfish is building a new category of satellite operations, focused on keeping space assets operational, efficient, and secure throughout their lifecycle. At the center of their platform is Otter, a highly maneuverable, autonomous spacecraft designed to rendezvous with satellites already in orbit. Unlike legacy servicing systems that are large, hardware-intensive, and require pre-installed docking infrastructure, Otter is lightweight, software-defined, and can operate with a high degree of autonomy, leveraging advanced sensing and computer vision.
Otter fundamentally changes what’s possible once satellites are already in orbit. It can extend mission life by years, improving unit economics while preserving valuable orbital slots and spectrum rights. It can safely remove defunct satellites, reducing the risk of collisions and supporting a more sustainable space environment. And it enables a new class of dynamic operations, allowing customers to inspect, maneuver, and reposition assets with far greater agility and control.
Taken together, this is about enabling a persistent, adaptable presence in space, where assets can be maintained and evolved rather than replaced.
A Team Built to Execute
Austin and Trevor are exactly the founders you think of when you hear the term founder-market-fit. They each bring differentiated technical backgrounds, shaped by experience at leading organizations such as Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, and NASA, paired with a strong understanding of how to sell to both commercial enterprises and the uniquely complex government market.
Over the past few years, getting to know Austin, co-founder Trevor, and the team, it has become increasingly clear that the group at Starfish is the right one to tackle the world of space operations. This conviction has been reinforced through some of the most positive reference calls we’ve been a part of, where Austin and the team were consistently described as humble, hardworking, intelligent, and resilient problem solvers all of which are exactly the qualities we look for in a founding team. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with them in the next phase of their journey.
NightDragon Investment in Space and Defense
Our investment in Starfish Space is not a new direction for NightDragon, it is the natural extension of a thesis we have been building since the firm’s inception. We began leaning into the shift to space early. Since 2021, through investments in companies like Hawkeye 360 and Capella Space, we’ve seen firsthand how central space has become to the broader technology and defense landscape.
Those experiences taught us what it takes to build enduring space businesses: strong technical differentiation, credible government traction, and teams with the rare combination of engineering depth and operational discipline.
More broadly, Starfish completes a critical piece of NightDragon’s multi-domain autonomy portfolio. With Saronic leading in autonomous maritime vessels, Forterra pioneering autonomous ground systems, and Epirus transforming air defense, Starfish extends NightDragon’s autonomous systems thesis into space. Across sea, land, air, and now space, we believe autonomous platforms will fundamentally reshape how nations defend their interests and protect critical infrastructure.
The timing of this investment also coincides with one of the most exciting periods to be investing in space. The space economy is entering a new era of maturation, with increasing commercial activity, growing space defense budgets worldwide, and deeper integration of space into critical technologies. All of this, along with the anticipated SpaceX IPO, underscores the momentum and scale of the opportunity ahead.
At NightDragon, our mission is to invest in and help scale the technologies that secure our world for tomorrow, and increasingly, that extends beyond Earth. With Starfish, we see an opportunity to help build the infrastructure that will make space not just more accessible, but more sustainable, resilient, and competitive for years to come.
Onwards
When I first met Austin two years ago, we bonded over something unexpected—women’s college basketball, specifically the role of male practice players. For those unfamiliar, practice players are the unsung heroes of many programs: showing up day in and day out to simulate opponents, pushing the team in practice, and making everyone around them better without expecting recognition. I was fortunate to work with practice players firsthand during my time at Notre Dame, many of whom are still good friends.
That was Austin during his time at Stanford, showing up consistently and pushing legends like Jayne Appel to be better. And it’s the same mindset he brings today to Starfish: focused, selfless, and committed to elevating those around him.
We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Austin and the Starfish team. In many ways, we see it as a bit of a role reversal—stepping into the practice player role ourselves: supporting, challenging, and helping wherever we can behind the scenes, contributing in a small way along Starfish’s journey.
We believe Starfish is just getting started and can’t wait to see what this next chapter brings them. Onwards!