Airbase launches with $5M round led by a16z, lands U.S. Government contract to secure radiofrequency spectrum superiority

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — NEW YORK, NY – March 25th, 2026 – Airbase, the software startup building modern infrastructure for radiofrequency (RF) spectrum coordination, today emerged from stealth with a $5M funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), joined by Squadra Ventures and Founders You Should Know. Launching with an active U.S. government agency contract, Airbase is starting by automating federal spectrum management and coordination. 

The RF spectrum is the invisible engine of the digital age. It underpins trillions in global GDP, facilitating essential daily services such as 5G, GPS, and radio, as well as critical systems like weather monitoring, satellite constellations, and autonomous drone swarms.

Yet, as demand for connectivity soars, the government systems used to allocate spectrum licenses and coordinate usage rely on decades-old technology. Slow, manual workflows silently stall innovation and weaken national defense.

“Physics defines the hard limits of spectrum availability, but the true bottleneck is analog coordination,” said Ari Rosner, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbase. “We are replacing the friction of the past with software-led precision, ensuring that both regulators and spectrum end users across commercial and defense sectors can function at speed, without constraint.”

Airbase is transforming spectrum from a static utility to a dynamic, software-defined resource. The company is currently under federal contract, applying automation to the most burdensome aspects of spectrum coordination. Airbase enables the nation’s experts to concentrate on complex RF engineering and policy challenges  over the time-consuming friction of manual interference deconfliction and legacy database management.

Regulatory agencies, like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), are increasingly prioritizing spectrum management modernization. “Demand for wireless spectrum has outpaced the systems that manage it,” stated Former FCC Chairman and Airbase advisor Julius Genachowski. To maintain American competitiveness and innovation leadership, commercial and government stakeholders can no longer afford to operate on fragmented, legacy spectrum-management infrastructure. By building directly alongside spectrum end-users, Airbase is positioned to deliver what this space has needed for years.”

This urgency is echoed by leading investors. “We can’t continue innovating at speed across aerospace, telecommunications, and defense without modernizing our spectrum infrastructure,” said Erin Price-Wright, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “Spectrum is a core layer powering progress across American Dynamism. Airbase is building the foundational technology needed to unlock the next generation of critical applications.”

Beyond licensing and coordination bottlenecks, with an increasingly contested geopolitical landscape the electromagnetic spectrum has become a primary battlefield. Airbase has designed their unified data infrastructure together with live radiofrequency data layers to support Electronic Warfare (EW), tactical communications, spectrum license enforcement, and Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiatives for the Department of War (DoW).

“Whoever controls the spectrum controls the battlefield,” said Guy Filippelli, Managing Partner at Squadra Ventures. “Our current military frequencies are vulnerable to jamming. Airbase provides the real-time, intelligent data the Department of War needs for secure, dynamic spectrum access on critical missions.”

Led by co-founders Ari Rosner and Millen Anand, previously of True Anomaly, NASA JPL, Planet Labs, and Boeing, the Airbase team bridges the gap between complex engineering, rapid startup execution, and domain expertise. The funding will accelerate platform development and the expansion of its New York-based team.

About Airbase:

Airbase builds modern software for automated spectrum coordination and intelligence. Its dual-use technology ensures that government, military, and commercial innovators have the resilient and rapid spectrum access required to deploy and track the systems of tomorrow. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Squadra Ventures, and Founders You Should Know, Airbase is headquartered in New York City. Learn more at www.airbase.us.

Media Contact: Dana Chou, media@airbase.us