Slingshot
Aerospace, an advanced analytics company, today announced $5 million
in new seed funding. The round was led by ATX
Venture Partners with participation from new investor Revolution’s
Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. The Rise of the Rest Seed Fund is part
of Revolution, the Washington DC-based investment firm founded by former
AOL Co-founder Steve Case focused on high-growth companies scaling
outside of coastal tech hubs. The investment had additional
participation from previous investors Okapi
Capital, Stage
Venture Partners, Sway
Ventures and Techstars
Ventures.
“Slingshot is on the cutting edge of applying AI, ML and big data
analytics to geospatial and orbital exploration at a time when insights
are more needed than ever,” said Colin Greenspon, Partner at
Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. “The company is another great
example of a company finding advantages in scaling outside of Silicon
Valley, and we look forward to supporting them as government and defense
and other arenas apply their technologies.”
Slingshot Aerospace, which has raised $9.1M total to date, including
this round of seed funding, will use the capital to accelerate the
company’s product development and hire key talent in finance, business
development and software engineering/data sciences. The company’s
mission is to help government and commercial customers predict the
unexpected and optimize their situational awareness by leveraging
machine learning for geospatial intelligence and space situational
awareness. Customers include BAE Systems, Boeing, NASA and the U.S. Air
Force.
“Together, we created Slingshot to bring decision makers more complete
and timely awareness in the orbital and geospatial arenas,” said David
Godwin, CEO and Co-Founder of Slingshot Aerospace. “The market
opportunity for Slingshot is vast, as we have become a leader in
AI-driven space tech products across multiple domains – closing the gap
between data analysis and critical decision making.”
Slingshot Aerospace was co-founded in 2016 by serial entrepreneur David
Godwin, CEO, and former Air Force Officers Melanie Stricklan, Chief
Strategy Officer, and Thomas Ashman, Chief Product Officer. The
company’s product offerings include Orbital Atlas, a space situational
awareness platform; Earth Portal, a geospatial visualization portal; and
N2X, an edge-AI framework for drones and spacecraft.
“In bringing together disparate signals and using deep learning to speed
up time-sensitive detections, both terrestrial and in orbit, we are
continually discovering new ways to predict the unexpected and empower
our commercial and defense customers with advanced analytics,” said
Melanie Stricklan, CSO and Co-Founder of Slingshot. “It’s extremely
rewarding to know that we have started to fulfill our mission and
attract the highest caliber talent who share this passion.”
The company recently hired a new Vice President of Finance, Tom Inman,
and a new Vice President of Technology, Dean Teffer, among other
software engineering and strategic business development hires.
“As follow-on investors in Slingshot, we believe they will become the
leaders in geospatial AI and edge technologies to make a true difference
in our world,” said Chris Shonk, Managing Partner at ATX Venture
Partners. “There is no better combination of people than Slingshot’s
founders to commercialize this frontier technology. From leaders in the
military with expertise on geospatial and orbital applications, to a
proven serial entrepreneur and strategist on bringing products to
market, this team is positioned to propel the company forward beyond our
wildest imagination.”
About ATX Venture Partners
ATX Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm specializing
in Texas and the South-Central U.S. The firm’s seed and Series A
investments focus on software-as-a-service, IoT, e-commerce, AI,
frontier commercial technologies, and mobile applications. ATX Venture
Partners was created by expert entrepreneurs to serve emerging
entrepreneurs. The firm was founded in 2014 and is based in Austin,
Texas. Visit www.atxventurepartners.com,
and follow them at @ATXVenture,
Facebook
and LinkedIn.
About Rise of the Rest
Rise of the Rest is a nationwide effort, powered by Washington DC-based
investment firm Revolution, to invest in and work closely with
entrepreneurs in emerging startup ecosystems. Since 2014, Steve Case and
the Revolution team have logged more than 10,000 miles touring
entrepreneurial communities by bus in 38 cities. In 2017, Case and JD
Vance announced a $150 million Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, backed by a
group of iconic entrepreneurs, executives and investors that believe the
next great startup investments are located outside of coastal cities.
Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund invests catalytic capital, often
alongside regional investors, to the most promising early stage
investments in Rise of the Rest cities. For more information, please
visit: www.revolution.com/rotr
or follow them on Twitter @RiseOfRest.
About Slingshot Aerospace
Slingshot Aerospace, Inc. (“Slingshot”) is an advanced analytics company
that employs artificial intelligence to draw insights from a synthesis
of satellite, aerial, drone and other contextual data streams for
defense, disaster response, and commercial applications. Slingshot’s
user-centered geospatial and space domain products close the gap between
data analysis and critical decision making. Founded in 2016 and based in
Austin, TX, and El Segundo, CA, Slingshot aims to significantly improve
the value of data customers consume, allowing them to gain competitive
advantage, reduce risk and lower costs. Visit www.slingshotaerospace.com,
follow Slingshot Aerospace at @sling_shot_aero,
Facebook
and LinkedIn.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190417005031/en/