Squadra News: Funding for Airbase & PDW, New Rules from Ukraine
From an air defense briefing with Ukrainian frontline operators to the risk of agentic AI in cyber, March was busy. Up next, LA.
The last month showed the realities of conflict. Days after the US took action in Iran, we hosted Ukrainian military operators for an executive briefing on air defense. From counter-UAS to missile defense systems, the briefing brought the technologies and the unmatched pace of iteration required at the frontline into exquisite detail.
But a quote from one of the officers was more stark — "The Ukrainian people, we have learned these lessons in blood, it is our hope in sharing this intelligence that others will not have to."
With US military leadership, allied operators, policy leaders, and investors gathered in the audience, it’s a statement that will resonate far beyond that room.
We aim for our investments to help the US win in combat, but more importantly, deter conflict and prevent loss by ensuring overwhelming advantage. We're here to support them.
Consider this your go-to snapshot of what's happening this month and how to engage.
In this edition you will find:
📈 Big moves in portfolio company funding
✨ Recognition and reports from across the network
🚀 Events in DC and a special roof-top happy hour in LA
Company News to Celebrate
🛰 Airbase launched from stealth with a $5M round led by a16z and a U.S. Government contract. The company is building modern infrastructure for radiofrequency spectrum coordination, aiming to transform spectrum from a static utility to a dynamic, software-defined resource. Read the exclusive in Axios.
𖥂 PDW closed over $110M in Series B financing led by Ondas with participation from Booz Allen Hamilton, Cedar Pine and others. The funding will be used to accelerate growth initiatives and ramp production of their modular multi-mission drones at Drone Factory 01 in Huntsville, AL. Read the press release.
📊 Datalogz released the second annual State of AI in BI 2026 Report. Produced in partnership with Intake Media, the report is based on interviews with over 70 data and analytics leaders, and showcases recommendations for implementing AI, effective agentic BI, and new metrics for success. Read the full report.
👾 Wyvern was recognized in Payload’s State of Earth Observation 2026. Identifying a market shift, the report reveals that nations are now combining their sovereign satellites with not only commercial imagery, but AI solutions. But there’s a major hitch — not in technological capability, but in trust. Read CEO Chris Robson’s take in Payload.
🚨 NetRise launched their latest product at RSAC, taking software supply chain risk beyond what’s in your software to reveal who’s inside your software. Provenance reveals where open-source components originate and who maintains them, delivering insight into risk propagation. Read more, the product was named to the “20 Coolest AI & Security Products at RSAC 2026.”
🤖 Nudge Security announced new AI agent discovery capabilities at RSAC. With the rise of agentic AI, a wave of unmanaged cyber risk has spread throughout organizations. Nudge’s capabilities address these concerns at the source of creation to then engage human creators to de-risk agentic AI in the enterprise. Read the press release.
Network Highlights to Share
Rewriting the Rules of Air Defense: The Squadra team was honored to partner with the Snake Island Institute, a Ukrainian defense analytics and innovation center, for an executive briefing on innovations tested at the frontline in Ukraine. The panel discussion featured air defense and drone interceptor experts, and revealed not only the relentless pace of innovation delivered weekly to the fight, but the critical reality of what the US and allied nations must learn from Ukraine’s hard-won intelligence. See Dom Ventimiglia’s write-up on Linkedin and read the report featured in the briefing Holding Back the Sky.
Turning SBIRs into Success: Last month’s edition of our Building in the Beltway series, featured Mike Velasquez, senior policy advisor to Rep. Jake Ellzey. The conversation took a deep dive into the specifics of how appropriations actually work. The biggest takeaway is that success in this ecosystem isn’t just about building great tech, it’s about navigating the complex system that funds, scales, and sustains it. See the recap on LinkedIn.
Open Roles Across the Squad
🚀 Overwatch Imaging is hiring a Product Demonstration Specialist to lead high-impact demos of airborne imagery intelligence systems. This customer-facing product super-user will work in the field and across the marketing, sales, and product teams. Location: Hood River, OR
𖥂 PDW is hiring a Senior Business Intelligence Analyst to build the company's entire BI function from scratch. Working closely with the revenue ops team, this role is aimed at making the business more data-driven. Location: Springfield, VA
🌐 Copia Automation is hiring a Marketing Programs Manager to run end-to-end outbound efforts, leading demand-gen campaigns, managing trade shows, producing B2B content, and supporting analyst relations. Location: New York, NY
🛡️ Shift5 is hiring an Executive Assistant to support the senior leadership team, including the SVP of Growth Officer, CTO, President & Interim CEO, Chief Legal Officer, VP of Product Strategy & Partnerships, and VP of Finance. Location: Arlington, VA
💥 Aurelius Systems is hiring a Senior Test Engineer (R&D) to own verification and validation across embedded firmware, power electronics, electromechanical assemblies, and full-system integration. Location: San Francisco, CA
Up Next this Month
🇺🇸 Georgetown Technology & National Security Conference — 4/17 : Dan Madden will be on a panel discussing the Evolution of Warfare in the 21st Century alongside Carmella Teeter, Director of the Special Operations Capability & Innovation Office, Brian Carbaugh, CEO of Andesite, and Gulsanna Mamediieva, former Ukrainian Director for the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Register to attend.
👾 Critical Ops, A DC National Security Hackathon — 4/17-19: Aimed at generating solutions to problems faced by government stakeholders and frontline operators, Squadra is proud to sponsor the first-ever national-security hackathon organized by students from Georgetown, George Washington, and Johns Hopkins University. While students, technologists, and entrepreneurs will be hacking all weekend, join on Sunday afternoon for demo day. Register to attend.
🌎 Scaling Across Fragmented Legal Regimes — 4/21: Next up in our Building in the Beltway series, we’ll hear from triple-qualified attorney Andrii Chornous. Admitted in NY, the UK, and Ukraine, he represents clients in multi-jurisdictional disputes before courts and tribunals and advises on complex transactional matters as strategic counsel. In this fireside chat, we’ll explore the legal aspects of working in and outside the US as a defense technology company. Register on Luma.
🌴 LA Hard Tech Rooftop Social — 4/30: We’re headed to the Gundo! Squadra is teaming up with Launchpad and Booz Allen Ventures to host a rooftop social at Launchpad's brand new El Segundo HQ. If you're an aerospace, defense, or advanced manufacturing founder, operator, or investor in the LA area this one's for you. Come celebrate Launchpad's new space over drinks, food, and good conversation with people building the future of frontier tech. Register on Luma.
Final Look from the Field
At the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, Datalogz CEO Logan Havern took the stage to host a session on “Ending BI Sprawl” with executives from Georgia-Pacific and PepsiCo. Sharing how Datalogz is critical to their strategy to increase data trust and create a scalable foundation for analytics, the session was recognized as the most attended and most discussed.
Squadra Ventures is a venture capital firm led by founder-operators that invests in early-stage national security companies advancing the critical edge.
Grounded in the belief that success is a combination of people, product, and planning, the Squadra team provides transformational support to startup leaders in the complex dual-use technology ecosystem. By applying a growth-stage mindset at the seed stage and a commitment to building alongside entrepreneurs, Squadra empowers extraordinary teams to win and leave a lasting positive impact on the world.
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