Ranking the 25 Top Venture-Backed Aerospace Companies Growing Fast in 2025

Aerospace is a broad industry, encompassing commercial aviation, space, defense, communication, and supply chain. Some branches are hotter than others. With only 29% of companies saying they’ve solidified their future supply chain readiness, and low-earth satellite spending expected to jump ~25% from 2025 to 2026, the field looks to a couple of bright superstars to fuel growth.

Which startups are on the radar?

We put our heads together and refined metrics on aerospace companies that have received lots of funding and are funded in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. This ranking sheds light on the hottest aerospace companies and allows for clear comparisons with similar funding and business models. It also applies the power laws to funding and company concentration in this space.

Top 25 Aerospace Startups Ranking Table

We analyzed data from Crunchbase and Keywords Everywhere to uncover the top US aerospace companies with top investors from Silicon Valley.

Ranking	Company	GFD Tech100 Final Score*	GFD Funding Score*	GFD Website Score*	GFD Branded Keyword Score*	Private or Public?
1	Joby Aviation	84.5	90.3	55.5	53.0	Public
2	Planet	82.4	83.5	58.9	56.7	Public
3	Anduril Industries	80.5	83.5	56.1	53.5	Private
4	Stoke Space	80.4	89.1	51.4	46.7	Private
5	Rocket Lab	80.3	86.4	54.0	49.0	Public
6	Apex	75.4	80.7	43.0	56.3	Private
7	Skyryse	73.7	85.1	43.2	42.1	Private
8	Arbor Energy	72.0	84.9	41.7	38.5	Private
9	Hadrian	71.9	74.7	50.7	49.8	Private
10	Vermeer	71.8	79.0	39.4	52.3	Private
11	Varda	71.5	74.6	51.2	48.1	Private
12	Chaos	70.8	72.9	47.2	53.3	Private
13	Xona Space Systems	70.3	70.9	52.0	51.2	Private
14	Momentus	70.3	76.2	44.7	47.4	Public
15	Impulse Space	69.2	74.6	46.7	45.4	Private
16	True Anomaly	68.5	72.6	46.4	47.6	Private
17	Muon Space	67.9	68.2	53.5	47.3	Private
18	Loft Orbital	66.4	68.0	55.1	41.4	Private
19	Interlune	64.4	65.1	46.5	49.5	Private
20	Odys Aviation	64.1	77.2	30.6	40.5	Private
21	K2 Space	64.1	66.8	46.6	45.1	Private
22	LeoLabs	62.4	56.4	58.0	49.2	Private
23	Skyways	62.1	61.1	48.0	49.2	Private
24	Starcloud	61.9	57.9	46.5	56.2	Private
25	Firestorm	61.9	68.3	30.1	51.8	Private

*GFD’s Tech100 score is a final composite score of the Funding Score, Website Score, and the Branded Keyword score.

Key Takeaways:

• The three hottest aerospace firms in August 2025 are Anduril Industries, Joby Aviation, and Planet due to the volume and freshness of their funding, the recent performance of their website, and the growth trends of their branded keyword.

Ranking the Top Startups by Funding Score

Funding is huge. This breakout highlights those firms that have raised the most venture capital rounds, ranked by a combination of date and volume. Note we are also including post-IPO raises as well. These are worth considering because they’re all part of the competitive system that all aerospace startups are competing in.

Ranking	Company	Total Funding Amount	Most Recent Funding Amount	Last Funding Date	GFD Funding Score*	Private or Public?
1	Joby Aviation	$3.02B	$591M	10/7/2025	90.3	Public
2	Stoke Space	$1.05B	$510M	10/8/2025	89.1	Private
3	Rocket Lab	$1.98B	$750M	9/15/2025	86.4	Public
4	Skyryse	$401M	$167M	10/9/2025	85.1	Private
5	Arbor Energy	$69M	$55M	10/21/2025	84.9	Private
6	Planet	$1.03B	$460M	9/9/2025	83.5	Public
6	Anduril Industries	$6.19B	$2.50B	6/5/2025	83.5	Private
8	Apex	$522M	$200M	9/12/2025	80.7	Private
9	Vermeer	$16M	$10M	10/22/2025	79.0	Private
10	Odys Aviation	$42M	$26M	10/9/2025	77.2	Private
11	Momentus	$177M	$7M	10/14/2025	76.2	Public
12	Hadrian	$476M	$150M	7/17/2025	74.7	Private
13	Impulse Space	$525M	$300M	6/3/2025	74.6	Private
13	Varda	$328M	$187M	7/10/2025	74.6	Private
15	SirenOpt	$19M	$7M	10/14/2025	73.9	Private

*GFD’s Funding Score captures funding volume and velocity by combing total funding with recent funding amount and recency.

Key Takeaways:

• When accounting for funding volume and freshness, Joby Aviation leads the industry. It has recently received a funding amount of $591M.
• Joby Aviation, and Hadrian have become promising firms in the aerospace industry as all have received over $500M in funds within the past year.
• All but one of our top ten aerospace firms have received large funding amounts in the past year, indicating that the industry is being heavily invested in.

1. Joby Aviation

GFD Funding Score*: 90.3

Total Funding Amount: $3.02B

Most Recent Funding Amount: $591M

Days Since Last Funding: 25

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Joby Aviation ranks #1 in funding. The company’s total funding is $3.02B and the last time they were funded was on October 7, 2025 for $591M. The last funding type was Post-IPO Equity. The total amount of investors that Joby Aviation has is 25 and their top investors are: BlackRock, 8VC, Toyota Ventures, Fidelity, Uber.

  

2. Stoke Space

GFD Funding Score*: 89.1

Total Funding Amount: $1.05B

Most Recent Funding Amount: $510M

Days Since Last Funding: 24

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Stoke Space ranks #2 in funding. The company’s total funding is $1.05B and the last time they were funded was on October 8, 2025 for $510M. The last funding type was Series D. The total amount of investors that Stoke Space has is 40 and their top investors are: National Science Foundation, Spark Capital, Y Combinator, US Innovative Technology Fund, Toyota Ventures.

  

3. Rocket Lab

GFD Funding Score*: 86.4

Total Funding Amount: $1.98B

Most Recent Funding Amount: $750M

Days Since Last Funding: 47

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Rocket Lab ranks #3 in funding. The company’s total funding is $1.98B and the last time they were funded was on September 15, 2025 for $750M. The last funding type was Post-IPO Equity. The total amount of investors that Rocket Lab has is 16 and their top investors are: Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, BlackRock, Trinity Capital, Vector Capital.

  

GFD Website Score Breakdown

Website traffic and traffic growth is important but doesn’t always line up perfectly with other attributes and events like funding. We were curious as to which of these companies saw the strongest website traffic and growth. The website score we captures the volume of recent website visits and combines it with the companies’ website growth trends.

Ranking	Company	Last Month Total Visits	Average Visits (6 Months)	Monthly Visit Growth	GFD Website Score*	Private or Public?
1	Planet	357K	410K	6.15%	58.9	Public
2	Axiom Space	75K	129K	51.21%	58.2	Private
3	LeoLabs	101K	73K	55.86%	58.0	Private
4	Anduril Industries	315K	387K	-25.60%	56.1	Private
5	Joby Aviation	81K	73K	15.33%	55.5	Public
5	SpaceX	1.4M	1.8M	-58.77%	55.5	Private
7	Loft Orbital	16K	9K	103.74%	55.1	Private
8	Fortem Technologies	13K	7K	99.78%	54.4	Private
9	Capella Space	28K	35K	31.62%	54.3	Private
10	Reflect Orbital	130K	76K	-11.57%	54.2	Private
11	Rocket Lab	8K	65K	39.77%	54	Public
12	Muon Space	25K	10K	50.97%	53.5	Private
13	Vannevar Labs	32K	20K	22.37%	53.2	Private
14	Astro Mechanica	9K	4K	71.92%	52	Private
14	Xona Space Systems	6K	4K	81.49%	52	Private

*GFD’s Website Score captures the volume of recent website visits and combines it with the companies’ website growth trends.

Key Takeaways:

• Planet is the industry leader in terms of website visits as it has on average over 400K visitors in the last six months.
• From August to September of 2025, two aerospace companies that have seen extreme growth are Loft Orbital and LeoLabs.

1. Planet

GFD Website Score*: 58.9

Last Month’s Total Visits: 357K

Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 410K

Monthly Visit Growth: 6.15%

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Planet ranks #1 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 357K total visits and increased by 6.15% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 410K.

  

2. Axiom Space

GFD Website Score*: 58.2

Last Month’s Total Visits: 75K

Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 129K

Monthly Visit Growth: 51.21%

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Axiom Space ranks #2 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 75K total visits and increased by 51.21% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 129K.

  

3. LeoLabs

GFD Website Score*: 58

Last Month’s Total Visits: 101K

Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 73K

Monthly Visit Growth: 55.86%

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, LeoLabs ranks #3 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 101K total visits and increased by 55.86% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 73K.

  

Aerospace Startups with Strongest Branded Search Growth

A great way to measure brand growth is by analyzing keyword growth for the company across a period of time. We sourced Google Search keyword data for companies on the list and ranked by a score that accounted for total keyword search as well as search volume change over the last year.

Ranking	Company	Total Keyword Search Volume	Average Monthly Search Volume Change (1 Year)	1 Year Trend Positive or Negative?	GFD Company Keyword Ranking*	Private or Public
1	Axiom Space	27K	2693.71	+	57.5	Private
2	Planet	1.2M	20209.79	+	56.7	Public
3	Apex	1.0M	16923.08	+	56.3	Private
4	Starcloud	4K	462.59	+	56.2	Private
5	Anduril Industries	61K	2830.42	+	53.5	Private
6	Chaos	673K	-1048.95	–	53.3	Private
7	Joby Aviation	74K	2786.71	+	53.0	Public
8	Vermeer	201K	2454.55	+	52.3	Private
9	Firestorm	91K	2113.64	+	51.8	Private
10	Inversion	246K	332.17	+	51.5	Private
11	Xona Space Systems	2K	179.72	+	51.2	Private
12	Outpost	110K	603.15	+	50.2	Private
13	Hadrian	61K	853.15	+	49.8	Private
14	Epirus	27K	756.64	+	49.6	Private
15	Air Space Intelligence	1K	92.27	+	49.5	Private

*GFD’s Branded Keyword Ranking is a metric that combines monthly branded keyword search volume with a 1-year linear trend that is observed weekly and adjusted by search volume.

Key Takeaways:

• Planet is the fastest growing branded keyword with an average monthly search volume increase of about 20k searches.

1. Axiom Space

GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 57.5

Total Keyword Search Volume: 27K

Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 2693.71

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Axiom Space ranks #1 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 27K. Over the course of the last year, the average monthly change for their branded keyword search volume was 2693.71, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.

  

2. Planet

GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 56.7

Total Keyword Search Volume: 1.2M

Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 20209.79

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Planet ranks #2 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 1.2M. Over the course of the last year, the average monthly change for their branded keyword search volume was 20209.79, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.

  

3. Apex

GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 56.3

Total Keyword Search Volume: 1.0M

Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 16923.08

 

Out of our 56 ranked aerospace companies, Apex ranks #3 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 1.0M. Over the course of the last year, the average monthly change for their branded keyword search volume was 16923.08, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.

  

Methodology and Sources

• Methodology: We collected data for 10k+ companies from Crunchbase and aggregated it into a set of scores through the use of quantitative transformations and expertly curated weighted averages.
• Sources: Crunchbase and Google Trends