Fortastra raises $30 million to advance on-orbit security platforms

Fortastra, a US-based developer of maneuverable, resilient spacecraft for on-orbit security and national defense, has announced the close of its USD 30 million Series A. The round was led by First In with participation from Upfront Ventures, Space Capital, Rsquared, Side Door Ventures, ATX Ventures, amongst others as well as existing investors, according to a press release.

The fresh funds will be used to accelerate development and commissioning of Fortastra’s on-orbit security platforms, expand the company’s engineering and operations team, and continue developing its core autonomy and manufacturing capabilities.

Fortastra’s maneuverable spacecraft are designed to hold position near critical assets, evaluate surrounding activity, and respond to potential threats in real time. The company aims to establish persistent, multi-orbit security coverage through mass deployment and high-rate manufacturing in close partnership with commercial and defense leaders.

“The raise allows us to transition from our initial operational success with Watchdog V0 to an operational capability we can take into full-rate production,” said Mike Smayda, Founder and CEO of Fortastra. “While national security priorities drive our immediate focus, commercial satellite operators will be demanding similar defense capabilities and adjacent civil use cases sooner than industry forecasts anticipate.”

Having achieved its seed milestones and secured initial government contracts, Fortastra is now scaling its engineering team, focusing on flight software, GNC, and autonomy, and expanding its manufacturing infrastructure to build a modular spacecraft bus optimized for high-rate production, the company said.

“This round funds engineering talent that can execute relative navigation and proximity maneuvers, a perception stack that identifies what the spacecraft is seeing in real time, and a cost optimized bus designed for high-rate production and mission effectiveness,” said Josh Jetter, CTO of Fortastra.   

Sahil Desai, VP of Product at Fortastra, said this funding will enable Fortastra to prototype its next spacecraft quickly and design the production architecture in parallel. 

“Never before have public and private US space assets been more critical to the functioning of everyday life, but also more vulnerable to disruption by a variety of adversaries," said Arthur Karell, General Partner at First In. “The Fortastra team is rapidly solving that gap by producing high-performance, low-cost space defenses.”