The co-founders with the support of a highly experienced team and investors are working to establish critical tools and infrastructure for the operation of spacecraft communication systems.
Cascade Space, a rising innovator in the aerospace industry, has announced the close of a $5.9 million seed funding round to advance its end-to-end space communication platform.
Founded in 2025 by Jacob Portukalian and Arlen Abraham, Cascade Space is a next-generation space communication system company, providing tools and infrastructure for the design, test, and operation of spacecraft communication systems.
With a team composed of former engineers from SpaceX and Astra, Cascade is focused on accelerating how space missions are built, tested, and launched by solving one of the hardest problems in the sector: communication.
The company has the backing of top-tier investors including Nova Threshold, Undeterred Capital, Y Combinator, and Liquid 2 Ventures, the company is accelerating the development of its flagship product—the Cascade Portal, a cutting-edge platform for space communication system design, test, and operation.
As demand grows for robust satellite communication systems to support lunar missions, deep space exploration, and next-generation constellations in low Earth orbit (LEO), Cascade Space is stepping up to deliver software tools and infrastructure that remove bottlenecks in traditional communication workflows.
Addressing a Major Bottleneck in Space Missions
Spacecraft communication remains one of the most complex challenges in the aerospace sector. From link budgeting and signal analysis to ground station integration and deep space telemetry, communication system design often delays mission timelines and adds significant technical risk.
“Communication system design, test, and operation is a major bottleneck for space companies—especially those going to lunar and deep space,” said Jacob Portukalian, co-founder and CEO of Cascade Space. “Our mission is to give space engineers the tools to move faster while increasing mission assurance.”
With a founding team of veteran engineers from SpaceX and Astra, Cascade Space is uniquely positioned to build infrastructure that addresses these pain points. The company’s software-driven approach allows aerospace teams to design, simulate, test, and operate communication systems from a single, unified platform.
The Cascade Portal: A New Standard for Space Communication Engineering
At the core of Cascade Space’s vision is the Cascade Portal, a cloud-based interface for space communication system engineering. fixed platform enables teams to model entire communications architectures—satellite-to-ground, inter-satellite, or deep space—to simulate and optimize performance across mission phases.
Built with flexibility in mind, the Cascade Portal incorporates the company’s newly released open-source spacelink Python library, which includes a powerful suite of functions for communication system analysis. This integration allows developers and system engineers to plug in their own mission parameters and customize designs with full transparency and control.
By streamlining the end-to-end process—from simulation to deployment—Cascade helps reduce the time, cost, and risk traditionally associated with satellite communication design and testing.
A Strong Signal to Investors: Momentum in Space Tech
Cascade Space’s seed round reflects growing interest in space infrastructure platforms, especially those that support the rapidly expanding commercial and governmental missions beyond Earth’s orbit.
The $5.9 million capital infusion will be used to scale product development, grow engineering talent, and deepen integrations with industry-standard tools used in mission planning and spacecraft operations.
Other investors in the round span a wide range of high-conviction space and deep tech firms, including:
- Night Capital
- Olive Capital
- Valkyrie Ventures
- Karman Ventures
- Palm Drive Capital
- Garage Capital
- TRAC
- Aurelia Foundry
- Hawktail
- MGV.VC
- Pioneer Fund
This robust investor syndicate brings deep expertise in early-stage space startups, software infrastructure, and dual-use technologies, signaling strong confidence in Cascade’s team and long-term vision.
Open-Source Innovation Meets Enterprise-Grade Reliability
Cascade’s commitment to open-source development is a distinguishing feature of its engineering philosophy. With the release of the spacelink Python library, the company is inviting the broader aerospace and academic communities to collaborate, contribute, and help shape the future of space communication architecture.
This blend of transparency and rigor gives Cascade Space a competitive edge—offering the speed and adaptability of open systems with the mission-critical reliability needed for government, defense, and commercial users alike.
Accelerating the Future of Space Exploration
As the global space economy evolves toward more complex, multi-node missions, the need for scalable, automated communication solutions is more urgent than ever. Cascade Space is not just solving technical problems—it’s building the operational backbone for the next era of space exploration.
From deep space missions to LEO constellations and lunar infrastructure, Cascade’s end-to-end platform supports the full life cycle of communication system development—from design and simulation to testing and live operation.
