Infinite Frontiers · Aug 2025
Founder interview describing the software roadmap, SpaceLink as the core library behind the SaaS product, and the long-term plan to unify link modeling and mission communications tooling.
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Overview
Cascade Space is a San Francisco-based YC Spring 2025 startup building the commercial communications layer for lunar and deep-space missions, combining a design/simulation software product with a dish-array ground-station network.
Primary product
Cascade Designer (spacecraft communications design software) and the Array/ground-station network
Founded
2025
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States
Team size
1-10 employees
Work style
Onsite
Industry
Space Research and Technology
Sub-industry
Deep-space communications software and ground-station infrastructure
Offices
730 Clementina Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
Business model
SaaS
space infrastructure/network services
open-source software
Funding
Stage
Seed
Total raised
$6M
Latest round
Seed · Jul 2025
Latest amount
$5.9M
People & investors
Leadership
Co-Founder, CEO
Co-Founder, CTO
Principal Communication Systems Engineer
Lead Communication Systems Engineer
Emma Nelson
Executive Assistant
Senior Full-stack Engineer
Pilsoon Choi
Senior RF Hardware Engineer
Work & culture
Lean, focused, collaborative, and strongly in-person, with emphasis on heterogeneous backgrounds, learning and growth, wellbeing, and low-drama execution.
Work style
Onsite
Visa sponsorship
Limited
Compensation
Public hiring signals include a Senior Mechanical Engineer role listed at $150k-$190k and at least one role marked US-person only due to ITAR/EAR constraints.
Benefits
healthy food in the office
no-meeting blocks
schedule flexibility
mentorship
performance reviews
equitable leveling
time off to recharge
psychological safety
empathy
emotional intelligence
Product & market
Pricing
Dynamic aperture size / pricing; software appears to be sold as a design platform with network-service pricing layered on top.
Differentiators
- —Commercial alternative to the Deep Space Network
- —Array of smaller dishes instead of a single large dish
- —Digital beamforming
- —Dynamic aperture size / pricing
- —Cascade Designer for fast link-margin and trajectory analysis
- —Open-source SpaceLink library
- —Built for lunar and deep-space missions
- —Ground-station network plus software design tooling
Technology
Python
SpaceLink
Astropy
YAML-backed registry
Open-source RF/link-budget library
Digital beamforming
Vercel Analytics
Customers
lunar mission teams
deep-space mission teams
space exploration companies
spacecraft communications engineering teams
early-stage space companies
Competitors
NASA Deep Space Network
Mynaric
MDA Space
ATLAS Space
Warpspace
Laser Link
Astrogate Labs
Astrolightspace
SSC
KSAT
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
≈$440K ARR estimate (GetLatka, updated 2025-09-14)
Estimated monthly visits
1.8K
Traffic estimate as of May 2026
Latest news
FinSMEs · Jul 2025
Funding recap confirming the seed round, investors, and that CEO Jacob Portukalian is leading the company from San Francisco.
Satellite Today · Jul 2025
Independent coverage explaining Cascade Space's mission, its open-source Spacelink library, and the planned Cascade Portal and ground-station network for lunar/deep-space missions.
Cascade Space · Jul 2025
Official company announcement of the $5.9M seed round, naming the investors and stating the funds will accelerate Cascade Designer and the broader communications platform.
Business Wire · Jul 2025
Press release reiterating the $5.9M seed raise, the product focus on spacecraft communication design/test/operations, and public contact email for CEO Jacob Portukalian.
Jobs and careers at Cascade Space
0 jobs at Cascade Space
No open positions
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