Former Disney Star Bridgit Mendler Emerges as CEO of Satellite Ground Tech Startup Northwood

Bridgit Mendler

Singer, songwriter, actress, and MIT and Harvard graduate, Bridgit Mendler is now CEO of a new satellite ground tech startup Northwood.

Mendler, who is known for her role as Teddy on “Good Luck Charlie,” announced on X Monday morning that Northwood secured a $6.3 million seed led by Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Capital Also, Long Journey VC, Box Group, and Humba VC.

Northwood aims to expedite the build and operation of satellite ground stations, the antennas that connect with satellites and provide data to and from space. 

“At Northwood, we’re rethinking infrastructure for satellite backhaul from the ground up,” Mendler said on LinkedIn. “We have our sights on building a data highway between earth and space. We are designing shared ground infrastructure from first principles to expand access to space.” 

Mendler is building Northwood with two co-founders: the startup’s chief technology officer, and her husband, Griffin Cleverly, as well as head of software Shaurya Luthra. Both Cleverly and Luthra were engineers at Lockheed Martin. The startup plans to build ground stations for companies with satellites in Low-Earth Orbit