Fortastra Raises $30 Million in Series A Funding to Scale Maneuverable Spacecraft for On-Orbit Security

Fortastra, an orbital defense company built for scale, led by Dr. Michael Smayda, has raised $30 million in Series A led by First In, with participation from Upfront Ventures, Space Capital, Rsquared, Side Door Ventures, ATX Ventures, among others, as well as existing investors. 

Fortastra will use the funding to accelerate the development of its on-orbit security platforms, expand its engineering and operations teams, and strengthen its autonomy and manufacturing capabilities. Its maneuverable spacecraft are designed to monitor critical space assets, assess nearby activity, and respond to potential threats in real time. The company aims to establish persistent security coverage across multiple orbits through large-scale deployment and high-rate manufacturing partnerships with commercial and defense organizations.

"We went from seed funding to on-orbit in about a year, and that pace is a direct result of the people in this building," said Mike Smayda, Founder and CEO of Fortastra.

"Members of the core team have all built and flown difficult projects before and came here because protecting assets in orbit is a critical problem that needs solutions. 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. 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," Smayda continued.

After achieving its seed milestones and securing initial government contracts, Fortastra is expanding its engineering team across flight software, GNC, and autonomy while scaling manufacturing to support high-rate production of its modular spacecraft bus.

"Proximity operations gate every capability we are building, so the work now is compressing the time between design, build, and flight," said Josh Jetter, CTO of Fortastra. "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. Each of those depends on growing our core engineering and manufacturing capability."

"Modern space missions demand technology that is operationally ready and can scale," said Sahil Desai, VP of Product at Fortastra. "Over the last few years, we've seen many new entrants bring cheaper, more effective warfighter capabilities on the ground and in the air. At Fortastra, we are asking ourselves why can't we do the same in space? This funding will enable Fortastra to prototype our next spacecraft at unprecedented speed. Furthermore, we will be designing the production architecture in parallel, proving we build at rate."

“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. They are making mass-as-a-virtue an attainable strategy in orbit. First In is honored to lead this group of investors in empowering Mike and the Fortastra team to continue building for our collective space security.”

Recent Fortastra milestones include the launch of Watchdog V0, an MoU with manufacturer Hadrian to apply precision machining and additive manufacturing to national security spacecraft, and the appointment of former Space Systems Command Deputy PEO Scott Klempner as Director of Product, National Security.