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The 7 Top Space and Defense Tech Startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield [2025]
Every year, TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield competition shakes up the tech world. Thousands of founders pour their hearts into applications, pitching their wildest ideas to some of the most discerning investors on the planet. The competition narrows things down ruthlessly: thousands become 200, then 200 becomes 20 competitors on the main stage, with a $100,000 prize waiting for the ultimate winner.
But here's the thing—the real magic happens in those middle 180 startups. These companies aren't the spotlight winners, but they're the ones solving impossible problems. They're building the future of space exploration, revolutionizing military technology, and tackling challenges that NASA and the Pentagon have wrestled with for decades.
This year, the space and defense tech category attracted some genuinely exceptional founders. We're talking about electric aircraft that can take off vertically without a runway, propulsion systems that eliminate the need for fuel entirely, AI systems that can hear through chaos and confusion, and navigation software that works when GPS gets jammed. These aren't incremental improvements—they're fundamental reimaginings of how aerospace and defense technology should work.
What made these particular startups stand out from the crowd? It wasn't just the novelty factor, though that matters. It was the combination of technical depth, real-world applicability, and the sheer audacity of what they're attempting. Some are solving acute problems that militaries and space agencies have struggled with for years. Others are attacking entirely new markets that didn't exist five years ago.
The space and defense sector has historically been dominated by massive defense contractors and government agencies. But startup culture is crashing that party. Founders with fresh perspectives, unencumbered by legacy systems and institutional inertia, are bringing velocity and innovation that traditional players simply can't match. They're building smaller, faster, smarter, and cheaper.
Let's dive into the seven standout space and defense tech startups that impressed our selection committee this year. Each one represents a different slice of this rapidly evolving landscape.
Airbility: The Future of Electric Vertical Flight
Airbility isn't waiting for airports to change—they're making airports obsolete. The company is building two-seat manned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, often called eVTOL aircraft. Sounds cool, right? But here's where it gets interesting: Airbility's approach is different from what most people expect.
Most eVTOL companies are copying the helicopter formula—lots of rotors, distributed electric propulsion, battery packs. Airbility is taking a completely different architectural approach. They've developed what they call a fixed-wing-based VTOL technology combined with a distributed electric fan-jet propulsion system. Translation: they've figured out how to blend the efficiency and range of a fixed-wing aircraft with the vertical takeoff and landing capability that doesn't require a runway.
Why does this matter? Weight. Traditional eVTOL designs are heavy because they're essentially electric helicopters, and helicopters are inherently inefficient at generating lift. Airbility's approach is lighter, more maneuverable, and more versatile. A lighter aircraft means less battery capacity needed, which means longer range, lower cost, and faster charging times.
The applications here are genuinely broad. Military transport, emergency medical evacuation, cargo delivery, border patrol—these aircraft could operate from clearings, parking lots, or makeshift landing zones. No infrastructure required. For military logistics, that's a game-changer. For humanitarian missions, it's transformative. For disaster response, it could literally save lives.
What impressed the Disrupt judges wasn't just the technology—it was the team's understanding of certification pathways. The FAA has started issuing special airworthiness certifications for eVTOL aircraft. Airbility has mapped out how they'll navigate that regulatory gauntlet. That's the difference between a neat idea and a company that might actually exist in five years.
The real challenge Airbility faces is battery technology. Today's lithium batteries have a specific energy density that limits range and payload. The company is betting that the battery landscape will improve enough—which is reasonable given current battery research trajectories, but not guaranteed. They're also betting on manufacturing at scale, which is another beast entirely. But the fact that they're thinking three moves ahead puts them ahead of most early-stage aerospace companies.
TechCrunch evaluates startups on five key criteria, with technical innovation and execution capability being the most critical. Estimated data.
Astrum Drive Aerospace: Propellant-Free Space Propulsion
Let's talk about one of the most counterintuitive ideas in the space tech sector: a spacecraft propulsion system that doesn't use propellant. Your immediate reaction is probably "that violates physics." Astrum Drive would argue they've found a loophole.
Astrum has developed what they call a propellantless, electricity-only space propulsion system. The company claims their patented technology eliminates the need to carry fuel onboard spacecraft. If true, this is massive. Fuel is heavy. Really heavy. Chemical rockets spend the vast majority of their energy just lifting their own fuel. Anything that can reduce that requirement changes the entire economics of space missions.
How does it work? Astrum uses electromagnetic fields to create thrust without expelling mass. The physics here is real—it's based on fundamental principles of electromagnetism that have been understood for over a century. The breakthrough isn't in discovering something new; it's in figuring out how to make it practical and scalable.
The implications ripple outward. First, extended spacecraft lifespan. A satellite that doesn't need to carry propellant can dedicate that mass to payload or additional solar panels. Second, lower costs. Launch costs are directly tied to mass. Eliminate tens of kilograms of fuel per satellite, and you're looking at significant savings. Third, deep space exploration becomes more feasible. Mars missions that currently require multiple fuel transfers could potentially operate with different propulsion profiles.
But here's where we need to be honest: electromagnetic propulsion systems have been researched for decades. Companies like Busek and Thrust Me already operate ion and electrospray thrusters. The difference with Astrum's approach is the specific implementation they've patented. Whether their system can deliver on the performance promises at scale—that's the test that will determine if they become a transformational company or a cautionary tale.
The biggest barrier here is that space propulsion is one of the most regulated and conservative sectors in all of aerospace. New technologies take years to flight-test and validate. Astrum's first test flights will tell the real story. In the meantime, they've generated impressive theory and secured enough funding to keep moving forward.
Military audio processing prioritizes intelligibility, reliability, and low latency over comfort and quality, unlike consumer products. Estimated data based on typical requirements.
Seraphim: Insurance and Risk Analytics for Space
Here's a startup that solves a problem most people don't realize exists: how do you insure a spacecraft?
Seraphim offers a fintech-style risk analysis platform specifically designed for spacecraft. They've essentially built the insurance underwriting engine for the space industry. The company's goal is to use insurability as a springboard to power new forms of credit for the space industry.
Why is this important? Because space is expensive and risky. A single launch failure can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Insurance companies have historically been reluctant to write space insurance policies because the actuarial data is spotty and the potential losses are enormous. Seraphim is solving this by collecting and analyzing detailed spacecraft telemetry, design specifications, and performance data to generate risk profiles that insurers can actually understand.
Think of it this way: traditional insurance for space is like insuring a building without ever seeing blueprints or construction plans. Seraphim brings transparency to the underwriting process. They can tell an insurer, "Yes, this particular satellite design with this particular launch vehicle from this particular provider has an X% probability of successful deployment based on historical data and technical analysis."
But the real genius is the second part—using insurability as a gateway to credit. If you can prove your spacecraft is insurable, you've essentially proven it's low-risk. That de-risks lending. Banks and financial institutions can now offer credit products to space companies because they have concrete risk assessments. It's a virtuous cycle: better data leads to better insurance terms, which leads to better financing, which leads to more space startups launching and providing more data.
For the space industry, which has historically relied on venture capital and government contracts, this creates a new funding pathway. It democratizes access to capital for smaller space companies that might not appeal to traditional VC investors.
Seraphim's challenge is convincing the insurance industry to adopt their platform. Insurance companies are notoriously slow to change. But they're also desperate for better tools to understand space risk. Seraphim has traction here—they've already worked with multiple launch providers and satellite companies.
Endox: AI-Powered Military Equipment Inspection and Maintenance
Endox is building AI systems for something that sounds mundane but is actually mission-critical: inspecting and maintaining military equipment.
The Department of Defense operates some of the most complex equipment on the planet. Fighters, ships, helicopters, ground vehicles—they all require constant inspection, maintenance, and repair. That inspection work is labor-intensive, requires specialized expertise, and happens in field conditions that range from uncomfortable to actually dangerous.
Endox is combining proprietary data capture systems with robotics technology to automate and scale equipment inspection. The key innovation here is Endox's own data collection systems. Rather than relying on standard cameras or sensors, they've built specialized hardware that captures the specific data their AI models need to identify problems.
What can the Endox system actually do? Detect corrosion, identify fatigue cracks, spot fluid leaks, verify component alignment, assess paint degradation—all the tiny details that indicate something is starting to fail. The system can catch problems before they become catastrophic failures.
For the military, this is genuinely valuable. A fighter jet that goes down because of a maintenance issue is not just expensive—it's potentially a loss of life. If you can catch that problem during routine inspection, you've prevented a tragedy. Scale that across thousands of pieces of equipment, and you're talking about potentially massive safety improvements.
The economic case is also compelling. Maintenance is expensive. Predictive maintenance—catching failures before they happen—is cheaper than reactive maintenance. Endox helps the military shift toward that predictive model.
The challenge Endox faces is integration with existing military supply chains and procedures. Military equipment inspection protocols are deeply embedded in military culture and regulation. Getting the military to adopt a new inspection technology requires navigating byzantine procurement processes and proving compatibility with existing maintenance doctrine. But Endox has the technical foundation to make it work.
The chart showcases estimated innovation ratings for the top 7 space and defense tech startups from the 2025 Disrupt Startup Battlefield. These startups are leading the charge with groundbreaking technologies in aerospace and defense. Estimated data.
Hance: AI Audio Processing for Military Communications
Picture this: a soldier is trying to communicate with their team during a combat operation. There's the sound of vehicles, explosions, wind noise, maybe nearby conversations in another language. The radio system needs to extract the human voice from all that noise while maintaining clarity and speed. Get it wrong, and communication breaks down. In military contexts, that's not just frustrating—it's dangerous.
Hance is building an AI neural network specifically designed to process real-time audio in chaotic environments. Their approach is different from consumer noise-cancellation products like those in Apple AirPods. Consumer products optimize for comfort and quality. Military audio needs to optimize for intelligibility and reliability in extreme conditions.
Hance's technology is trained on exactly these kinds of scenarios: high-noise military environments, multiple simultaneous speakers, degraded audio quality from legacy radio systems, and unpredictable acoustic conditions. The neural network learns to identify human speech patterns and extract them from background noise with minimal latency.
What makes this different from standard speech-recognition software? Speed and robustness. Consumer speech recognition systems are optimized for accuracy with clean audio. Hance's system is optimized for working with garbage audio in real-time, without requiring server calls or cloud processing. This is edge AI—processing happening locally, without network dependency.
The military applications are obvious: radio communications, aviation headsets, vehicle intercom systems, squad communications networks. But there's a broader market too. First responders—police, fire, emergency medical—all deal with noisy environments and need reliable communication.
Hance's biggest challenge is product-market fit with military procurement. The military is extremely conservative about communications systems. A new audio processing technology needs to be tested, certified, and validated before it gets integrated into operational systems. That's a multi-year process. But the fundamental problem Hance is solving is real, and the technical approach is sound.
Skylark: Self-Learning AI for Embodied Robotics
Robotics is hitting a wall. We can build robots that do specific, repetitive tasks in controlled environments. But the moment you put a robot in the real world—with all its variability, unpredictability, and edge cases—everything breaks. Skylark is taking on one of the hardest problems in AI: creating a self-learning system designed specifically for embodied AI applications.
What does "embodied AI" mean? It means AI that's not running on a server somewhere, but actually controlling a physical robot in the real world. That robot needs to perceive its environment, make decisions, and take physical actions. And it needs to do all of this in real-time, with limited computational resources.
Skylark's approach is to build neural networks that can learn from experience and adapt to new situations without requiring constant retraining or human intervention. The system incorporates safety constraints—you want a learning system that experiments and improves, but not in ways that cause damage or harm.
Why is this important for military applications? The Department of Defense is increasingly interested in autonomous systems for inspection, reconnaissance, logistics, and other dangerous tasks. These systems need to be reliable, they need to learn from experience, and they need to handle situations that designers didn't explicitly program.
The technical challenges here are formidable. You need to balance learning speed against computational efficiency. You need to ensure the system doesn't learn dangerous behaviors. You need to create systems that can transfer knowledge from simulation to the real world—a notoriously difficult problem. Skylark is tackling these problems head-on.
The company's advantage is deep technical expertise in machine learning combined with a specific focus on physical robotics constraints. They're not trying to build general-purpose AI; they're building AI specifically optimized for the unique challenges of robots moving through physical space.
Astrum Drive's propellant-free propulsion could significantly extend spacecraft lifespan, reduce costs, and increase payload capacity, making deep space missions more feasible. (Estimated data)
Skyline Navigation: GPS-Independent Navigation for Contested Environments
GPS is everywhere. It powers your phone's maps, your car's navigation, delivery drones, autonomous vehicles, and military systems. And that's exactly the problem: GPS is ubiquitous, which means it's an obvious target for jamming and spoofing.
Skylift (or Skyline, depending on the source documentation) has created navigation software that doesn't depend on GPS. Instead, they're using AI-powered visual recognition to enable navigation in GPS-denied environments.
How does it work? The system recognizes geographic features from visual input—satellite imagery, maps, or real-time camera feeds—and determines position and orientation based on scene matching. No GPS signal required. The AI does this quickly enough to support real-time navigation without requiring expensive GPU processing.
For military applications, this is transformational. A military vehicle operating in a contested area where GPS has been jammed can still navigate using visual terrain recognition. An aerial vehicle can maintain position and course without relying on satellite signals. An autonomous system can operate independently.
The challenge is accuracy and robustness. GPS works because of the geometric guarantees of satellite positioning. Visual navigation is trickier—it depends on having distinctive visual features to match against, lighting conditions, time of day, seasonal changes, and the reliability of your map data.
Skylift is using AI to solve these problems. Deep neural networks can learn to recognize terrain even with variations in lighting, season, and perspective. They can identify locations from partial or degraded visual information. The company has focused specifically on making this work efficiently at the edge, without requiring expensive compute resources.
The real-world applications extend beyond military: autonomous vehicles, delivery drones, search and rescue, and any system that needs to navigate in areas where GPS is unreliable or unavailable.
The Broader Landscape: Why These Startups Matter
These seven companies represent something important happening in aerospace and defense: the startup model is winning. The traditional aerospace industry—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon—built their empires on massive defense contracts, stable technology bases, and engineering excellence. But they've become slow. Moving an existing system from design to production takes years. Innovation cycles are measured in decades, not months.
Startups are changing that equation. Because they're smaller, they can take risks that large companies can't. They can pivot quickly. They can hire young engineers unburdened by the institutional knowledge of how things have always been done. That's not inherently better, but it's different in ways that matter.
The other major factor is the defense and space tech ecosystem is opening up. The Space Force has launched programs specifically designed to work with startups. The Pentagon has created acquisition paths for innovative companies. Private space companies like SpaceX have proven that doing space differently actually works. That creates momentum and opens doors.
There are also genuine technical breakthroughs happening. Battery technology is improving. AI is becoming practical for edge applications. Manufacturing techniques like 3D printing enable new designs. Materials science is advancing. These aren't incremental improvements—they're foundational shifts that unlock new possibilities.
Estimated data shows launch failure as the highest risk factor in spacecraft insurance, highlighting the importance of comprehensive risk analysis.
What Success Looks Like in Space and Defense
Success metrics in space and defense are different from typical startup metrics. You're not racing for product-market fit in six months or aiming for hockey-stick growth curves. Space and defense programs operate on longer timescales.
For a space startup, success often means: securing a contract with a government agency, completing a successful test flight, achieving certification or regulatory approval, partnering with a major contractor, or winning funding from strategic investors in the defense industry.
For a defense tech startup, success looks like: integration into military systems, adoption by a branch of service, deployment in actual operations, or acquisition by a major defense contractor.
The timelines are measured in years, not quarters. But the payoff is substantial. A company that captures even a small fraction of military or space spending has access to enormous budgets.
The Investment Environment
Venture capital's relationship with space and defense has evolved significantly. Five years ago, most VCs avoided space because the timelines were too long and the regulatory environment was too complex. That's changing rapidly.
Several dedicated space and defense focused funds have emerged. Firms like Lowercarbon Capital, Doblin, Space Angels, and others are specifically investing in aerospace companies. There's also meaningful capital flowing from strategic investors: large aerospace companies, defense contractors, and government innovation funds.
The Disrupt Battlefield competition itself serves as a signal to investors. Getting selected puts a startup on the radar of prominent investors and potential partners. That visibility accelerates everything—funding conversations, customer discovery, hiring, partnership opportunities.
Challenges Facing Space and Defense Startups
For all the momentum, space and defense startups face real obstacles.
First, there's regulatory complexity. You can't just push code updates for aerospace systems the way you would for a web app. Everything requires certification, testing, validation, and often government approval. A feature that takes two weeks to build might take six months to get approved for use.
Second, there's the contracting problem. Military procurement is notoriously slow and bureaucratic. The government uses outdated contracting mechanisms designed for established contractors. Startups are supposed to navigate this while also managing their burn rate and runway.
Third, there's the talent problem. Building aerospace and defense systems requires expertise that's concentrated in a few regions and organizations. Recruiting engineers away from established companies is expensive, and the security clearance process adds months to hiring timelines.
Fourth, there's the existential question of export controls. Space and defense technology is restricted under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). This creates barriers to hiring international talent, collaborating with foreign partners, or expanding internationally.
Fifth, there's simple technical difficulty. Aerospace and defense systems have to work reliably in harsh conditions, often with limited ability to perform maintenance or repairs. The engineering requirements are extreme.
Despite these challenges, the startups highlighted here have made the bet that they can navigate these obstacles and win. The ones that succeed will likely reshape how the space and defense industries operate.
The Path Forward
We're watching a pivotal moment in aerospace and defense. The old model—where a handful of massive contractors dominated—is gradually shifting toward an ecosystem where large established companies partner with innovative startups. SpaceX proved this model works. Companies like Relativity Space, Axiom Space, and others are validating it across multiple domains.
The seven startups highlighted here are part of that transition. Some will fail. Some will be acquired. Some will grow into major companies. But collectively, they're pushing the field forward.
The interesting thing about Disrupt Battlefield is that it surfaces founders who are ambitious, talented enough to get selected, and willing to pitch their companies publicly. Those selection criteria correlate with success. The startups in this category aren't random—they're the ones that impressed some of the most experienced observers of the startup ecosystem.
That doesn't guarantee success. But it's a pretty strong signal.
What We're Watching
In the next two to three years, watch for several things:
Will Airbility achieve their certification milestones on schedule? eVTOL certification has proven slower than optimistic founders predicted. Airbility's architectural approach is novel enough that regulators will scrutinize it carefully.
Can Astrum Drive Aerospace demonstrate their propulsion system works in orbit? Ground tests and simulations are one thing. Flight heritage is another. That test flight will tell you everything.
Will Seraphim become the de facto insurance analytics platform for space companies? If they do, they've created a massive moat. If not, they're just another analytics tool.
Can Endox navigate military procurement successfully? This is the biggest unknown. The technology is solid, but military integration is a graveyard for good ideas.
Will Hance become embedded in military audio systems? Again, military adoption is the key question. If they do, they've solved a critical problem the military cares about.
Can Skylark create embodied AI systems that actually work reliably? This is perhaps the most technically ambitious of all. The payoff is enormous, but so are the challenges.
Will Skyline become the standard for GPS-denied navigation? This one might succeed through multiple pathways—military, autonomous vehicles, urban navigation in GPS-degraded areas.
These are the questions that will determine which of these startups become tomorrow's leaders in space and defense.
FAQ
What is TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield?
Disrupt Startup Battlefield is TechCrunch's annual pitch competition where early-stage startups compete for recognition, investment, and the prestige of winning. The competition selects 200 startups across various categories to pitch, with 20 advancing to the main stage. Winners receive a $100,000 cash prize plus significant media exposure and investor attention.
How are startups selected for Disrupt Startup Battlefield?
TechCrunch's selection committee reviews thousands of applications and evaluates startups based on several criteria: technical innovation, market potential, team quality, problem-solution fit, and overall execution capability. For space and defense tech specifically, selectors look for companies solving genuine problems in aerospace, military technology, and related domains with defensible technical approaches.
Why does the space and defense sector attract startup innovation?
The space and defense sector is experiencing unprecedented startup interest because traditional defense contractors have become slow-moving bureaucracies, regulatory barriers are lowering, capital is increasingly available for these domains, and fundamental technologies like battery science and AI are enabling new approaches. Additionally, government agencies are actively seeking partnerships with startups to accelerate innovation.
What makes electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft significant?
eVTOL aircraft represent a fundamental shift in transportation technology. By eliminating runway requirements, they enable operations from congested urban areas, remote locations, and makeshift landing zones. For military and emergency applications, this removes critical infrastructure dependencies and enables new operational possibilities that weren't feasible before.
How would propellant-free space propulsion change the aerospace industry?
Removing the need to carry fuel onboard would dramatically reduce spacecraft weight, extend mission duration, lower launch costs, and enable new mission profiles including deeper space exploration. Because launch costs scale directly with weight, eliminating tens of kilograms of fuel per satellite translates to significant savings across large satellite constellations.
What is GPS jamming and why is it a military concern?
GPS jamming involves transmitting radio signals that overwhelm or confuse GPS receivers, denying them access to satellite positioning data. For military operations, GPS jamming creates navigation uncertainty and vulnerability to adversary actions. GPS-independent navigation systems like those Skyline is developing become critical in contested environments where GPS signals cannot be trusted.
How does AI help with military equipment maintenance?
AI-powered inspection systems can detect subtle signs of equipment degradation—corrosion, cracks, misalignment, fluid leaks—before failures occur. This enables shift from reactive maintenance (fixing things after they break) to predictive maintenance (fixing them before they break), reducing costs and preventing catastrophic failures that could result in loss of personnel or capability.
Key Takeaways
- Seven standout space and defense tech startups from TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 represent the latest wave of aerospace innovation from founders unburdened by institutional legacy
- Airbility's fixed-wing eVTOL architecture is lighter and more efficient than traditional helicopter-based designs, enabling military transport and emergency response from any cleared area
- Astrum Drive's propellant-free propulsion system could extend spacecraft lifespan, reduce launch costs, and enable deeper space exploration if they overcome engineering challenges
- Seraphim creates fintech-style insurance analytics for spacecraft, solving a critical gap that limits space startup access to credit and insurance products
- Endox, Hance, Skylark, and Skyline all apply AI to military-specific problems: equipment inspection, audio processing in chaotic environments, embodied robotics, and GPS-denied navigation respectively
- Startup culture is finally crashing the aerospace and defense party, displacing the incumbent dominance of slow-moving defense contractors like Lockheed and Boeing
