MentionFox lists 93 Aerospace and defense companies for 2025. Of them, 16 are Y Combinator companies (the newest batch here is Fall 2025, with 5); 77 won an SBIR or STTR award. The median SBIR or STTR award in the table is $1.7M, across 77 awards.
Companies93
Y Combinator16
SBIR/STTR winners77
Other years
All years (291) 2026 (110) 2024 (26) 2021 (18)
Aerospace and defense startups in 2025
| Company | What it does | Date | Amount | Round / stage | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intellisense Systems Inc | Bradley digital vehicle distribution box dvdb replacement task order 1 | Award starts Dec 1, 2025 | $9.5M | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Beast Code LLC | F2 - 19029 - creating a digital twin of legacy aircraft b-52 | Award starts Nov 6, 2025 | $1.7M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Ata Engineering, Inc. | A machine learning-accelerated framework for lethality assessment of directed energy engagements of hypersonic threats | Award starts Sep 30, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Atea Technologies, LLC | Direct to phase ii novel effector payloads | Award starts Sep 30, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Firefly Aerospace Inc. | 80nssc25c0413 planetary defense study | Award starts Sep 30, 2025 | $149,831 | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Lunar Resources, Inc. | Direct to phase ii: helix high-power pulsed electromagnetic microwave power supply (hemps) | Award starts Sep 30, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Polaris Sensor Technologies Inc | Small business innovation research (sbir), direct to phase ii, topic a254-037, single aperture night plus polarization compass | Award starts Sep 30, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Spectral Sciences, Inc | Direct to phase ii: standardized all-altitude modulation model (samm) for long-wave infrared through mid-wave ultraviolet environmental… | Award starts Sep 30, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Toyon Research Corporation | Af241-0011 proposal f2-19218 - enhanced timing-programming system | Award starts Sep 30, 2025 | $1.8M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Epir, Inc. | Radiation hardened infrared fpa | Award starts Sep 24, 2025 | $1.5M | STTR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Disruptive Electronic Warfare Machines, LLC | Phase 3 award for dart-c emitters and support iaw attached quote 25019_30 may 2025. | Award starts Sep 23, 2025 | $1.1M | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Karagozian & Case, Inc. | 3 n181-008 maritime internal blast | Award starts Sep 22, 2025 | $624,824 | SBIR | Federal award record |
| Katalyst Space Technologies, LLC | Swift salvo | Award starts Sep 19, 2025 | $29.8M | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Picogrid, Inc. | Small business innovation research (sbir), direct to phase ii, topic a254-027, low-altitude passive detection system. | Award starts Sep 19, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Telemetrak, Inc. | Award for new integrated atc | Award starts Sep 17, 2025 | $1.8M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Corvid Technologies, LLC | Reach back phase ii: surrogate model for high-fidelity physics-based post intercept debris generation | Award starts Sep 15, 2025 | $7M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Engeniusmicro LLC | Second-phase ii - manufacturing innovations for next-gen technologies in hypersonic vehicles | Award starts Sep 15, 2025 | $3M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Fibertek, Inc. | High-altitude water vapor and ocean (hawc) transmitter | Award starts Sep 15, 2025 | $3.6M | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Virginia Diodes, Inc. | 80nssc25c0463 aurora 109-192 ghz spectrometer front-end electronics | Award starts Sep 9, 2025 | $1.2M | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Dynovas Inc | 67/a pylon conventional weapons adaption (dynovas) | Award starts Sep 3, 2025 | $1.8M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Luna Labs USA LLC | Lightweight lightning strike protective coating for extreme environments | Award starts Sep 2, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Icarus | Stratospheric birds for defense | Fall 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Lakonia | Delivering AI-powered situational awareness in tactical environments. | Fall 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Pacific Microchip Corp. | Contract #80nssc25c0457 entitled aurora spectrometer back-end electronics (sbe) | Award starts Sep 1, 2025 | $223,998 | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Tornyol | We build micro-drones that kill mosquitoes | Fall 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Wardstone | The Modular Interceptor Platform | Fall 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Zephyr Fusion | Powering tomorrow's industrial revolution in space | Fall 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Autonodyne LLC | Fy24 sbir/sttr topic#: osd234-p002 adaptive weapons-to-targets optimization for counter UAS applications | Award starts Aug 28, 2025 | $1.5M | SBIR | Federal award record |
| Microsurgeonbot Inc | Topic no | Award starts Aug 28, 2025 | $1.2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Precision Combustion, Inc. | Fy25 sbir phase iii - solid oxide fuel cell (sofc) system development and evaluation (sd&e) for mars applications | Award starts Aug 28, 2025 | $4.5M | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Spaceworks Enterprises Inc | Direct to phase ii: advancing scramjet technologies for interceptors | Award starts Aug 25, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Psionic, Inc. | Fy25 sbir phase ii sequential - psndl component qualification for class a missions | Award starts Aug 22, 2025 | $4M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Black Swift Technologies LLC | Data collection over costa rica volcanoes | Award starts Aug 19, 2025 | $80,972 | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Predictive Science Incorporated | 80nssc25c0063 an advanced surface flux transport model for space weather | Award starts Aug 18, 2025 | $849,479 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Secmation LLC | Direct to phase ii: reflect - RADAR emission fuzzing and logging for exploitability and countermeasure testing | Award starts Aug 18, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Reaction Systems, Inc. | 80nssc25c0028 innovative method for water and co2 sequestration and reclamation in long duration plss | Award starts Aug 15, 2025 | $849,914 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Inhance Digital Corporation | Af231-0021 mixed reality glasses for aircraft maintenance (mrmx) | Award starts Aug 13, 2025 | $1.8M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Motiv Space Systems, Inc. | 80nssc25c0101 "safe persistent operations with cobots in space (spocs)" | Award starts Aug 13, 2025 | $849,236 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Benchmark Space Systems Inc | , 80nssc25c0108, aquila - chemical-electric hybrid transfer stage | Award starts Aug 12, 2025 | $847,366 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Space Environment Technologies, LLC | 80nssc25c0064 commercial data assimilation tool for operational thermospheric density | Award starts Aug 12, 2025 | $849,919 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Transwave Photonics, LLC | Ii: high power mwir optical fiber combiner | Award starts Aug 12, 2025 | $1.8M | SBIR | Federal award record |
| Moonprint Solutions LLC | 80nssc25c0029 space suit materials for use in cryogenic cold | Award starts Aug 11, 2025 | $849,840 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Jackson Bond Enterprises, LLC | High temperature inflation hoses and ports for next generation inflatable heat shields | Award starts Aug 8, 2025 | $881,238 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Biospherical Instruments, Inc. | , 80nssc25c0048, hyperspectral optical profiling system with advanced dynamic vertical sampling resolution (hy-ops advsr) | Award starts Aug 6, 2025 | $845,508 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corporation | /sttr phase ii r&d rad-tol innovative integrated optical driver for ultra-low-loss imu | Award starts Aug 6, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Leiden Measurement Technology LLC | 80nssc25c0060 chess: compact high-entendue spectrometer for space | Award starts Aug 6, 2025 | $899,913 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Yank Technologies, Inc. | 80nssc25c0089 dust-tolerant resonant connectors for extreme environments | Award starts Aug 6, 2025 | $899,953 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Alphacore Inc | Sf241-0021 high speed optical interconnects for efficient intra-satellite data transfer in the space environment. | Award starts Aug 1, 2025 | $1.8M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Hyper Tech Research Inc | Contract #80nssc25c0008 high power density motors/generators for single and double aisle passenger aircraft using multifilamentary high… | Award starts Jul 29, 2025 | $899,999 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Irpi LLC | Gravity independent condensing heat exchanger | Award starts Jul 21, 2025 | $849,850 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Wecoso, Inc. | 80nssc25c0062 multi-channel stirling convertor space controller (mc-scsc) | Award starts Jul 18, 2025 | $848,472 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Whisper Aero Inc | 80nssc25c0026 - design of an ultra-low noise ventilation fan for space applications | Award starts Jul 17, 2025 | $849,999 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Daniel H Wagner Associates Inc | Topic (#n202-111) optimal planning for minefields with advanced capabilities | Award starts Jul 16, 2025 | $1.4M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Gird Systems Inc | R and d: passive sending for distributed radars | Award starts Jul 14, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Lairson Bruce | 80nssc25c0054 large silicon carbide grids for x-ray microcalorimeter blocking filters | Award starts Jul 14, 2025 | $849,999 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| M4 Engineering, Inc. | 80nssc25c0005 uam design space exploration framework with embedded version control | Award starts Jul 10, 2025 | $849,987 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Heliospace Corporation | Contract # 80nssc25c0066, title: 6 meter antenna and boom system for cubesats | Award starts Jul 7, 2025 | $848,675 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Improving Aviation LLC | 80nssc25c0012 entitled "target acquisition and guidance system (tags) for wildfire response" | Award starts Jul 7, 2025 | $899,966 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Opterus Research And Development, Inc | Proposal #80nssc25c0041 entitled "conductive solid surface deployable antenna for space-based remote sensing" | Award starts Jul 3, 2025 | $849,851 | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Umapav Corp | Fy24 sbir/sttr topic#: osd234-p002| federated 3D geopositioning and targeting (f3d-gt) in maritime and terrestrial environments | Award starts Jun 12, 2025 | $1.9M | SBIR | Federal award record |
| Technology IN Blacksburg, Inc. | Topic no | Award starts Jun 4, 2025 | $1.9M | STTR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Albacore Inc. | Drone submarines | Summer 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Perseus Defense | America's Golden Dome for Drones | Summer 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Texas Research Institute , Austin, Inc. | Base for sbir phase ii topic n121-063, ablative material to efficiently repair and restore the operational capabilities of mk 41… | Award starts May 28, 2025 | $1.4M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Flight Works, Inc | Sf243-d018 space sustainment and maneuver: advancing strategic superiority in orbital operations | Award starts May 23, 2025 | $1.9M | SBIR | Federal award record |
| Carbon Carbon Advanced Technologies, Inc. | /sttr direct to phase ii r&d design and manufacture of a prototype hypersonic glide vehicle target using c-cat acc materials | Award starts May 22, 2025 | $2.8M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Intelliepi Ir, Inc | Small business innovation research (sbir) phase ii, topic a23-006, advanced ii-v avalanche photodiode structures in the infrared | Award starts May 9, 2025 | $1.1M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Continuum Dynamics Inc | Army sttr phase ii for effort entitled, "source noise model for rotorcraft operations planning" | Award starts May 1, 2025 | $1.3M | STTR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Oledworks LLC | Small business innovation research (sbir) phase ii, topic a244-011, off the visor heads up display (hud) phase ii (sbir phi contract#… | Award starts Apr 28, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Alkemix Corporation | Alkemix corp.: sttr phase ii topic number:dla23a-003 proposal number: l2s-0067 proposal title:tps for hypersonic applications | Award starts Apr 23, 2025 | $2.1M | STTR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Near Earth Autonomy, Inc | Near earth autonomy sbir direct to phase ii beacon for assured landing location develop, demonstrate, and deliver solutions that… | Award starts Apr 7, 2025 | $1.6M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Wingxpand Inc. | Wing xpand: xpod: a truly modular payload enabling multi-mission flexibility and affordability for US army special forces sbir phase ii | Award starts Apr 7, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Cascade Space | Commercial alternative to the Deep Space Network | Spring 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Godela | AI Physics Engine to replace simulations and prototypes | Spring 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| GroundControl | Vertical AI for highly-regulated manufacturing | Spring 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Bodkin Design & Engineering LLC | /sttr phase ii r&d pulsed laser lethality effects for missile defense | Award starts Mar 21, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Btech Acoustics LLC | Base award for sbir phase ii topic #n201-066 - acoustically transparent mid-frequency sonar projector. | Award starts Mar 11, 2025 | $1.4M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Faraday Technology, Inc. | /sttr phase ii r&d functionally graded coatings for enhanced oxidation resistance of sharp hypersonic leading edges | Award starts Mar 10, 2025 | $1.5M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Mentis Sciences Inc | Small business innovative research sbir phase iii mentis sciences proposal msi 24-0612 for hypersonic radome and aperture manufacturing… | Award starts Feb 26, 2025 | $3.3M | SBIR Phase III | Federal award record |
| Cfd Research Corporation | R&d: development of a novel control surface and actuation system for high lift-to-drag vehicles using the rapid hypersonic yaw maneuver… | Award starts Feb 25, 2025 | $1.5M | STTR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Vector Atomic Inc | /sttr phase ii r&d - miniature iodine nanosecond timekeeper (mint) | Award starts Feb 11, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Ultramet | Pepin associates proposal l2s-0055 titled ultramets proposal increased component size of cf zrc cmcs for hypersonic and related,… | Award starts Feb 10, 2025 | $2M | STTR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Sporian Microsystems, Inc | /sttr phase ii r&d thermal protection material for terminal high altitude area defense (thaad) interceptor | Award starts Feb 8, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Scitec Innovations LLC | /sttr phase ii r&d geospatial real-time opir othr tracking (groot) | Award starts Feb 6, 2025 | $2M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Esc Aerospace US, Inc | Esc aerospace US, inc sbir phase ii a22-001 target on the move and dynamic retargeting for enhanced lethality develop sensing… | Award starts Jan 27, 2025 | $1.1M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Outpost Technologies Corp | Strategic funding increase (stratfi) small business innovation research (sbir) sequential phase iib award: joint precision orbital… | Award starts Jan 27, 2025 | $5.2M | SBIR | Federal award record |
| Qortek Inc | Base- sbir phase ii topic n242-d11 modernized sonar transmit electronics | Award starts Jan 15, 2025 | $1.4M | SBIR Phase II | Federal award record |
| Candor | We help companies win government funding with AI | Winter 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Dalus | AI-Powered Hardware System Design Software | Winter 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| General Trajectory | AI for the physical world | Winter 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Instinct Space | Building lunar landers | Winter 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Orbital Operations | High Thrust Space Vehicles for Satellite Defense | Winter 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing | |
| Reditus Space | Reusable Satellites | Winter 2025 | Y Combinator batch | Y Combinator listing |
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