SCOUT Space Inc. has acquired Free Space Inc. to strengthen the firm’s defense and technical capabilities and broaden the inroads built with the U.S. Department of Defense, intelligence community and civil government — terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Free Space was founded in January of 2022 by Gil Valdes and Vin Bisceglia to build new Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and Space Security Solutions for the U.S. Government (USG), its allies and aligned commercial, satellite operators. During their six years working in the space industry, the company recognized that the space domain was rapidly becoming a less permissive and more contested environment wherein critical satellite constellations were regularly under threat from hostile actors. Due to these growing threats, they founded Free Space to ensure all aligned spacecraft could operate, navigate and communicate freely.
The Free Space team developed the Guardian Satellite and Trellis satellite autonomy software concepts, which will eventually serve as critical, New Space security infrastructures. Since the Company’s inception, Free Space has secured more than $1.5 million in U.S. Space Force (USSF) contracts to develop this technology, with strong backing from critical USG agencies.
In July of this year, SCOUT announced it had successfully completed an oversubscribed Seed round led by Decisive Point, with majority investment by Noblis Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Noblis, and with participation from Fusion Fund, Techstars and VIPC.
“This acquisition is the result of SCOUT’s business plan to strengthen the company by expanding our defense and technical capabilities with strategic acquisitions. With a high market demand for our on-orbit services and mission augmentation capabilities, this acquisition uniquely positions SCOUT to respond immediately to our government customers’ needs. We look forward to welcoming this team into our incredible SCOUT family.” — Eric Ingram, CEO, SCOUT Space
“We are thrilled to announce the beginning of an extraordinary journey as Free Space joins forces with the fabulous team at SCOUT. Today, we embark on a new chapter together that will shape the future of space domain awareness and advanced satellite technology to another level. As we combine our expertise, resources and visionary spirit, we are poised to accelerate disruptive new solutions that will usher in a new era of vision-based autonomy and SDA solutions. We are looking forward to expanding this amazing frontier together.” — Vin Bisceglia, Vice President of Growth, SCOUT
“Free Space is thrilled to join forces with SCOUT in this mission to deliver groundbreaking space domain awareness and security solutions for government and commercial space operators. Through this business combination, we bring the grit, talent, and capital needed to deliver the space security infrastructure that our military, civil, and commercial space customers require, and on a much more rapid timeline. Vin and I look forward to working with SCOUT’s founders, Eric and Sergio, and their stellar team to build the go-to space security and safety company at SCOUT.” — Gil Valdes, Vice President of Government Programs, SCOUT
