Best Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech Companies in Houston, United States
The 48 best Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies in Houston, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Axiom Space.
Our analysis of 50 Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies
$31.9b in tracked funding; 90% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2021.
Ranked: Best Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies in Houston
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Axiom Space 🦄 Developer of commercial space stations for habitation 74Funding top 20%Product top 21%Tech top 23%Innovation top 25% All 10 signals ▾Fundingtop 20% Producttop 21% Techtop 23% Innovationtop 25% Moattop 26% Newstop 27% Talenttop 28% Growthtop 30% Globalbottom 45% Marketbottom 35% Funding: Raised $480M across 3 rounds · 3 rounds over 8 yrs (0.4/yr) Product: 9 distinct product lines · Company stage: Series D rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 74/100 | $480M | 5 mo ago | Series D | Kam Ghaffarian Co-Founder | 2016 | MagentoApple iCloud MailTypeScript+17 | — | 1 partnership |
| 2 | Intuitive Machines Developer of systems and solutions for space services 74Product top 14%Funding top 28%Tech top 29%Innovation top 32% All 10 signals ▾Producttop 14% Fundingtop 28% Techtop 29% Innovationtop 32% Markettop 35% Talenttop 38% Growthtop 39% Newstop 45% Fin. healthtop 49% Globalbottom 32% Product: 8 distinct product lines · Company stage: Public Funding: Raised $195M across 3 rounds · 3 rounds over 3 yrs (1.0/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 74/100 | $195M | 5 mo ago | Public | Kam Ghaffarian Co-Founder & Chairman | 2013 | DrupalPHPVimeo+25 | — | 1 internship · 1 launch · 1 award |
| 3 | Fleetzero Platform offering modular electric propulsion and hull systems for cargo ships 35Funding top 20%Talent top 38%Moat top 41%Tech top 43% All 8 signals ▾Fundingtop 20% Talenttop 38% Moattop 41% Techtop 43% Globalbottom 37% Patentsbottom 36% Innovationbottom 35% Marketbottom 31% Funding: Raised $16.5M across 3 rounds · 3 rounds over 4 yrs (0.8/yr) Talent: 2 named leaders on record · 2 C-suite/founder profiles curated rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 35/100 | $16M | 6 mo ago | Series A | Michael Carter Co-Founder | 2021 | Cart FunctionalitySquarespace CommerceSquarespace+17 | 2 patents Modular, containerized battery packs for electric vehicle power storage | — |
| 4 | Cognitive Space Developer of AI-powered automated satellite constellation management software service | $10M | 32 mo ago | Seed | Guy Carufel Founder & CEO | 2018 | WordPressHugoApple iCloud Mail+25 | — | — |
| 5 | Voyager Provider of cloud-based workflow management solutions for the maritime shipping industry | $10M | 13 mo ago | Series A | Matthew Costello Co-Founder & CEO | 2018 | ZohoIntercomVuetify+20 | 5 patents Real-time e‑commerce transaction processing over telecommunications networks | — |
| 6 | Bees360 Provider of drone-based inspection services for enterprises | $10M | 37 mo ago | Acquired | Andy Liu Founder & CEO | 2018 | SanityAmazon Web ServicesVue.js+9 | 2 patents AI-driven image analysis for property insurance underwriting and claim processing | 1 launch · 1 partnership |
| 7 | Deep Space Industries Asteroid mining | $5M | 99 mo ago | Acqui-Hired | — | 2012 | — | — | — |
| 8 | NanoRacks Manufacturer of space habitats | $3M | 70 mo ago | Acquired | — | 2009 | — | 16 patents Patents concentrated in transport & manufacturing processes | — |
| 9 | Panton Provider of Image analysis-based industrial solution | $3M | 128 mo ago | Seed | — | 2013 | — | 17 patents AI-driven computer vision for vehicle damage, safety, railroad track and chart inspection | — |
| 10 | Arch Aerial Drone services for energy, construction, and water asset operators | $200K | 128 mo ago | Seed | Ryan Baker Co-Founder & CEO | 2012 | WordPress Block EditorElementorWordPress+25 | — | — |
Top 12 Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies in Houston
#1
Series D · Houston, Texas · founded 2016 · 2 employees$480Mraised▾
Developer of commercial space stations for habitation. Its space stations can host microgravity experiments and space-environment materials testing. It is also developing a thruster that can be installed on a mobile propulsion test stand. It also caters to government astronauts, tourists, private companies, and individuals for research, manufacturing, space exploration system testing and tourism.
- Feb 2026Series D$350M
- Aug 2023Series C$350M
- Feb 2021Series B$130M
- Aug 2018Series A—
#2
Public · Houston, Texas · founded 2013 · 382 employees$195.2Mraised▾
Developer of systems and solutions for space services. It provides users with designing and building hardware to support space-related activities. It also provides users with space system management, lunar data services, and orbital data services.
- Feb 2026Post IPO$175M
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$212.3K
- Sep 2023Post IPO$20M
#3
Series A · Houston, Texas · founded 2021 · 14 employees$16.5Mraised▾
Platform offering modular electric propulsion and hull systems for cargo ships. It focuses on reducing ship construction and operational costs through modularity. It pioneers modular hull construction to lower costs and increase shipyard output. The company aims to facilitate zero-carbon shipping through electric cargo ships.
- Jan 2026Series A$43M
- Jun 2022Seed$16.5M
- Seed$125K
#4
Series A · Houston, Texas · founded 2018 · 49 employees$9.9Mraised▾
Provider of cloud-based workflow management solutions for the maritime shipping industry. The solution connects various stakeholders to provide supply chain visibility with features such as eMail automation, real-time traceability of operations, KPIs, and analytics.
- Jul 2025Series A$1.6M
- Dec 2021Series A$8.4M
- Aug 2019Seed$1.5M
- 2018Seed$20K
#5
Seed · Houston, Texas · founded 2018 · 45 employees$10Mraised▾
Developer of AI-powered automated satellite constellation management software service. The software enables constellations to scale and meet market needs. It dynamically reschedules mission plans in near real-time. The software integrates through defined APIs and engineering support. It manages collection plans and multi-GSN pass scheduling concurrently.
- Dec 2023Seed$500K
- Oct 2023Seed$4M
- May 2023Seed$1.2M
- Nov 2021Seed$4M
#6
Acquired · Houston, Texas · founded 2018 · 124 employees$9.8Mraised▾
Provider of drone-based inspection services for enterprises. It offers autonomous flight where the drone flies and captures all aerial imageries including the closeups, in different angles and altitudes, to generate the full roof measurements and damage detection report in real-time. The drone pilot can directly upload photos from the app to the cloud. It provides streamlined property field inspection workflow, embeds roof, and exterior inspection, automatically builds inspection reports to review, and generates an estimate on the platform.
- Jun 2023Series A$9.8M
#7
Acqui-Hired · Houston, Texas · founded 2012 · 20 employees$4.8Mraised▾
Deep Space Industries is developing technology to begin commercial utilization of space. Current research includes space-based refueling, power, asteroid processing and manufacturing. Current spacecraft under development include: the FireFly (searches for suitable asteroids for mining, projected to fly in 2015), DragonFly (carries 150 Kg of asteroid material to Earth) and a "mothership" that can carry a dozen nanosats (provides deep space communication).
- Apr 2018Series A$3.5M
- Aug 2016Seed$25K
- Nov 2015Seed$1M
- 2013Seed—
#8
Acquired · Houston, Texas · founded 2009 · 55 employees$2.6Mraised▾
Manufacturer of space habitats. It offers plug-and-play microgravity research facilities allowing small standardized payloads to be plugged into any of their platforms, providing an interface with the space station power and data capabilities. It also provides support services, such as customer interface, payload development, space shuttle, and space station integration services.
- Sep 2020Series B—
- Oct 2017Series A—
- Jun 2017Grant (prize money)$122.4K
- Jun 2013Series A$2.6M
#9
Seed · Houston, Texas · founded 2013 · 11 employees$2.6Mraised▾
Provider of Image analysis-based industrial solution. It helps to reduce the time of the roof claims process for insurance companies by creating 2D-3D models of houses for automatic damage area detection and measurement. It is also used in pipeline laying to identify the potential barrier and monitor ground assets. It can detect leakages through near-infrared technology. It also provides solutions for wind turbine inspection for structural damages, icing, etc.
- Nov 2015Seed$2.6M
#10
Seed · Houston, Texas · founded 2023$20Kraised▾
Developer of electric propulsion technology for in-space applications and hardware. It focuses on creating technology to enable solar system exploration. The company’s initial product is an ion thruster utilizing a patent-pending ionization technology. This technology aims to produce ions with less wasted power. It allows the thruster to use molecular fuels. This results in a scalable, modular thruster suitable for various applications.
- 2024Seed$20K
#11
Seed · Houston, Texas · founded 2012 · 15 employees$200Kraised▾
Drone services for energy, construction, and water asset operators. They provide aerial data solutions, including mapping, videography, 3D modeling, LiDAR, and leak detection. They serve energy, construction, and water utility industries with services like progress tracking, site surveys, aerial patrols, and inspections. They offer custom solutions with tailored data, advanced imaging, AI analytics, and aerial surveys. They utilize multi-rotor and fixed-wing drones for data collection and analysis across the energy supply chain, from upstream to downstream. They support construction projects from pre-bid to post-construction with drone mapping, surveys, and marketing imagery. They focus on delivering quality data to help clients capture the most of their world.
- Nov 2015Seed$100K
- Dec 2014Seed$100K
#12
Series A · Houston, Texas · founded 2003—raised▾
Provider of advanced engineering solutions for space industry. It provides users with a company specializing in guidance, navigation, and control technologies, focusing on innovative solutions in various technical areas including spaceflight simulation and analysis, human spaceflight operations, avionics integration and testing, and flight software.
- Dec 2025Series A—
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Launch Vehicles is moving in the United States
A read on the academic research around Launch Vehicles — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 1,518 United States-affiliated papers.
- Marshall Space Flight Center339
- Langley Research Center111
- Jacobs77
- Purdue University West Lafayette61
- Ames Research Center61
- Detonation1→8
- Trajectory2→6
- Rocket (weapon)16→20
- Combustor1→4
- Propellant13→14
- Detonation10→40
- Propulsion26→34
- Liquid-propellant rocket20→28
- Combustor10→15
- Combustion11→16
- Detonation2→11
- Rocket (weapon)20→21
- Rocket engine12→13
Where launch vehicles is researched across United States
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing launch vehicles patents in the United States
United States launch vehicles patent filing is accelerating — 333 filings from 249 assignees (2016–2025), led by Boeing, BLUE Origin, United Technologies; annual filings 29→46.
- Boeing47
- BLUE Origin44
- United Technologies33
- Venus Aerospace25
- 8 Rivers Capital19
- Aerojet Rocketdyne15
- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne13
- Firehawk Aerospace13
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.