CesiumAstro Closes $470M in Series C Capital for Rapid U.S. Growth in 2026

Business

CesiumAstro Closes $470M in Series C Capital for Rapid U.S. Growth in 2026

2026-02-02 20:00 Last Updated At：02-03 12:16

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 2, 2026--

CesiumAstro Inc. today announced it secured $470 million in growth capital, cementing its position as a mission-critical provider of next-generation space and defense communications. The funding includes $270 million in equity, led by Trousdale Ventures, with participation from Woven Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Airbus Ventures, the Development Bank of Japan Inc., MESH, NewSpace Capital, and other global investors, alongside a $200 million financing package from Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and J.P. Morgan, a first of its kind public-private partnership under the “Make More In America” Initiative.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260202358221/en/

The capital will fuel CesiumAstro’s rapid scale-up, including the build-out of a new 270,000-square-foot headquarters, expanded manufacturing capacity, and accelerated deployment of its software-defined, AI-enabled space communications platforms worldwide.

“This is a scale moment,” said Shey Sabripour, Founder and CEO of CesiumAstro. “Our technology is moving from breakthrough to American Industrial backbone. This funding lets us deliver resilient, AI-enabled communications to “connect, detect and defend” at global scale—faster.”

The continued backing of strategic investors, alongside new institutional capital, underscores CesiumAstro’s growing role in the space and national security ecosystem.

“CesiumAstro embodies the kind of enduring innovation we look for—engineering excellence with the discipline to deliver hardware over hype,” said Phillip Sarofim, Founder of Trousdale Ventures. “We’ve backed the company across multiple rounds because this team isn’t chasing headlines—they’re building a forever company. Over the past year alone, CesiumAstro moved from announcing its first fully integrated satellite to securing eight SpaceX rideshare launches, accelerating on-orbit validation. Their momentum and maturity set them apart.”

The funding comes amid strong operational execution, as CesiumAstro advances multiple government and commercial programs and expands its portfolio of flight-proven, software-defined communications systems. With demand surging for resilient, high-throughput space architectures, the company is positioned to play a central role in proliferated space and defense networks.

"CesiumAstro is fundamentally redefining how we connect the world from space. By moving away from rigid, legacy hardware and toward a modular, software-defined approach, they've unlocked a level of flexibility the industry hasn’t seen before," said Will Fung, principal at Woven Capital. “CesiumAstro brings together deep technical and industry expertise, enabling the team to reliably deliver mission-ready systems at scale for both government and commercial customers today, with a clear path to new applications like vehicles in the near future.”

Proceeds will support expanded manufacturing, accelerated AI-enabled communications development, scaled production of Element, the company’s fully integrated LEO satellite, and growth of global technical and program teams.

“This raise reflects broad confidence in our execution across commercial and defense markets,” said Ken Smith, CFO of CesiumAstro. “With the addition of significant non-dilutive EXIM financing, this funding both validates our progress and accelerates our next phase of growth.”

About CesiumAstro

CesiumAstro is a global leader in advanced connectivity solutions for space and defense. The company delivers next-generation systems that connect, detect, and defend across commercial, government, and national security missions. Its vertically integrated, end-to-end hardware and software platforms include satellites, high-performance communications payloads, and advanced computing systems, all designed, manufactured, and tested in-house to AS9100D and ISO 9001:2015 standards. Headquartered near Austin, Texas, CesiumAstro operates additional facilities in Colorado, California, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Learn more at CesiumAstro.com.

After crash, Tiger Woods told deputy he was 'talking to the president,' body camera shows

After crashing his SUV last week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his phone and told a deputy, “I was just talking to the president,” according to body camera footage released Thursday showing Woods' arrest on a DUI charge.

The phone conversation was not captured on video, but Woods could be heard saying, “Thank you so much,” as he hung up and the deputy approached. It wasn't clear if Woods was referring to President Donald Trump, whose former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump, is dating Woods.

Shortly after the golfer's March 27 arrest, Trump was asked about Woods and told reporters: “I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty. Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person. Amazing man. But, some difficulty.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump spoke to Woods after the crash.

The footage also shows how Woods appeared to be astonished as he was handcuffed after failing a sobriety test and a video from the back of the patrol car shows the handcuffed golfer hiccupping, yawning and repeatedly appearing to nod off during the 15-minute ride.

Woods told authorities he was looking at his phone and changing the radio station when his speeding Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled onto its side on a residential road on Jupiter Island. No one was injured.

“I looked down at my phone, and all of a sudden — boom,” Woods told an officer as he knelt on a lawn, prior to his arrest.

Body camera footage shows Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Tatiana Levenar then conducting a roadside sobriety test and telling Woods: “I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI."

“I’m being arrested?” Woods responded.

“Yes, sir,” Levenar said.

After handcuffing Woods, authorities searched his pockets and found two white pills.

“That’s a Norco,” Woods said after an officer pulled out the pills, referring to a painkiller that contains acetaminophen and the opioid hydrocodone. Authorities would later confirm that Woods was in possession of hydrocodone.

In the body camera footage, Woods told Levenar that he had not drunk any alcohol and that he had taken “a few” medications earlier in the day, though Woods’ words are muted in the released video as he describes some of the drugs.

At the sheriff’s office complex, after Woods was escorted into the “DUI room” where drivers are tested for being under the influence, Woods said, “I’m not drunk. I’m on a prescription medication,” according to a supplemental sheriff’s office report released Thursday.

Woods, 50, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to suspicion of driving under the influence. He posted a statement Tuesday night saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”

Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer test that showed no signs of alcohol, but he refused a urine test, authorities said. Under a change to Florida law last year, refusing an officer’s request to take a breath, blood or urine test became a misdemeanor, even for a first offense.

During the field sobriety test, deputies noticed Woods limping and that he had a compression sock over his right knee. Woods explained he had undergone seven back surgeries and over 20 surgeries on his right leg, and that his ankle seizes up while walking.

Woods, who was hiccupping during questioning, continuously moved his head during one of the sobriety tests and deputies had to tell him several times to keep his head straight, according to an arrest report.

“Based on my observations of Woods, how he performed the exercises and based on my training, knowledge, and experience, I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” Levenar wrote.

Woods is the most influential figure in golf and has become as recognizable as any athlete in the world. The first person of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, he has captivated golf fans with records likely never to be broken.

His injuries have kept him from accomplishing more, including from a 2021 Los Angeles car crash that damaged his right leg so badly he said doctors considered amputation. He has not played an official event since the 2024 British Open. He was recovering from a seventh back surgery in October and was trying to return at the Masters, where he is a five-time champion.

—-

Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report.