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Woman-led venture capital firm funds early-stage mission driven space technologies, leveraging unique technical and due diligence expertise in the aerospace sector.

Palo Alto, CA – Stellar Ventures launched its first fund, SV Andromeda Fund LP, which recently held its final closing with over $23M in capital commitments and the mission to invest in the future of space technology. Drawing on the extensive network and technical expertise of aerospace engineering partner Stellar Solutions, Inc., Stellar Ventures is uniquely positioned to identify leading terrestrial and orbital space technology companies in early growth stages.

Investing in space start-ups reached nearly $15-billion in 2021 (Bryce Tech, 2022). The roughly $350-billion global space market could surge to over $1 trillion by 2040 according to Morgan Stanley’s Space Team estimate with strategic public-private partnerships producing innovative, integrated solutions.

“We are standing at the precipice of exponential growth in the space industry, similar to the Internet in the late 1990s,” said Managing Director Celeste Ford. “Amazon, Google and Netflix were built upon the Internet’s foundation. In today’s space industry, the commodification of space launch has led to a similar dynamic, with a new set of entrepreneurs rapidly bringing innovative products to market. Stellar Ventures is investing in promising entrepreneurs who are capitalizing on these opportunities to build the space companies of tomorrow.”

A pioneering aerospace engineer, Ford founded Stellar Solutions in 1995 and led it as CEO until ascending to Board Chair in 2018. She founded Stellar Ventures in 2022 with Managing Director Matt Patterson and Operating Partner David Anderman. 

“No other venture fund in the space industry has a partner like Stellar Solutions,” said Patterson, “Stellar Solutions identifies deal flow, performs our due diligence and introduces entrepreneurs to government customers where their products can directly impact US and international missions.”

Stellar Solutions specializes in high end systems engineering, serving intelligence, defense, civil, commercial and international space customers. Stellar Solutions’ more than 300 employees include an impressive roster of Stellar Solutions Advisors who are accomplished leaders with experience in national security (e.g., Generals, Admirals, SES – Senior Executive Service, Ambassadors), former astronauts, and scientific/engineering experts serving the defense, intelligence, commercial, civil and international sectors.

“Stellar Ventures is committed to identifying successful investments for its limited partners and fueling the development of space-enabled technologies to achieve ambitious business, government and environmental goals,” said Anderman, who is the former General Counsel of SpaceX and previously served as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Engineers are creating the next generation of space startups and can prove out their technology on orbit for a fraction of what it cost just a few years ago,” he added. “What was once the realm of science fiction is now reality as humanity expands into the cosmos.”

Space-enabled technology allows Fortune 500 companies to monitor crop production and supply chains, and governments to manage cyber security and warfighter support.  As expressed in the 2021 United States Space Priorities Framework, “Space activities are essential to our way of life. They advance our understanding of the Earth, the universe, and humanity; enable U.S. national security; create good jobs and economic opportunity; enhance our health and well-being; and inspire us to pursue our dreams.”

About Stellar Ventures

Stellar Ventures is a woman-led venture capital firm investing in the next generation of space entrepreneurs. With the launch of their first fund, SV Andromeda Fund LP, the Stellar Ventures team will invest in early-stage, mission driven space technology companies, leveraging their technical expertise and network in the aerospace sector.  Stellar Ventures is partnering with extraordinary leaders who are utilizing space technology to build exceptional businesses that will change the world.

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About Stellar Solutions

Stellar Solutions, Inc. is a global aerospace and systems engineering services provider to commercial, defense, intelligence, civil and international sectors.  Stellar Solutions provides systems engineering capabilities and strategic support for global communications, remote sensing, national defense, and space exploration. These solutions to customer critical needs connect technology and customers across multiple domains. With physical operations throughout the U.S. and the globe, Stellar Solutions is a recognized leader in delivering end-to-end critical expertise and problem-solving skills.

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Palo Alto, CA — Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine have honored Stellar Solutions as one of this year’s Best Workplaces in the Bay Area. This is the company’s second time being named to this prestigious list. Earning a spot means that Stellar Solutions is one of the best companies to work for headquartered in the Bay Area. In prior years, Stellar Solutions also ranked as a Best Medium Workplace™ and Best Workplace for Millennials™.

This year’s Best Workplaces in the Bay Area award is based on employee feedback collected through America’s largest ongoing annual workforce study of over 1 million employee survey responses and data from companies representing more than 6.1 million U.S. employees.

The Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list is highly competitive. Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture, selected the list using rigorous analytics and confidential employee feedback. Companies were only considered if they are a Great Place to Work-Certified™ organization and headquartered in the Bay Area.

Great Place to Work is the only company culture award in America that selects winners based on how fairly employees are treated. Companies are assessed on how well they are creating a great employee experience that cuts across race, gender, age, disability status, or any aspect of who employees are or what their role is.

“As employee demands and expectations have dramatically changed over the past year, these companies have risen to the occasion—and it’s not been easy,” says Kim Peters, executive vice president of global recognition, research & strategic partnerships at Great Place to Work. “Their hard work and dedication to listen to and care for the well-being of every employee, and support them in a way that’s meaningful to all, is the standard all organizations will be held to.”

About Stellar Solutions

Stellar Solutions, Inc. is a global aerospace and systems engineering services provider to commercial, defense, intelligence, civil and international sectors.  Stellar Solutions provides systems engineering capabilities and strategic support for global communications, remote sensing, national defense, and space exploration. These solutions to customer critical needs connect technology and customers across multiple domains. With physical operations throughout the U.S. and the globe, Stellar Solutions is a recognized leader in delivering end-to-end critical expertise and problem-solving skills.

About the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™

Great Place to Work selected the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area by gathering and analyzing confidential survey responses from its study of thousands of companies representing more than 6.1 million U.S. employees at Great Place to Work-Certified™ organizations. Companies must be headquartered in the Bay Area to be eligible. Company rankings are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place to Work Trust Index™ survey.

About Great Place to Work®

Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, it has surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Its employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything it does is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™. 

Award-winning space industry leader joins global aerospace engineering services innovator  

Palo Alto CA – Stellar Solutions, Inc., the global aerospace engineering services leader, has named Michael Hollis, Jr., as Vice President, Civil Sector.  He joins the senior executive team of the woman-owned and woman-led company that delivers high-impact engineering services to intelligence, defense, civil, commercial, and international customers.

In announcing his appointment, Stellar Solutions CEO Janet Grondin said, “Stellar Solutions is proud to welcome Michael Hollis to our leadership constellation. With 20 years of award-winning experience in the space industry, his systems engineering expertise and business development acumen will support our growth and mission to solve customers’ critical needs.” 

Hollis joins the company with an extensive career in publicly-traded global engineering companies.  Most recently he served as Program Director of Intelligence Community Systems Solutions at Jacobs (previously KEYW). Prior to 2020, he led a successful 16-plus year career at Northrop Grumman Corporation, where he was promoted several times, most recently to Business Development Manager. He also served as Program Manager for a substantial classified program, and as Systems Engineering and Integration Test Lead. 

He was twice awarded Black Engineer of the Year awards at Northrop Grumman, both for Outstanding Young Alumni and as a Science Spectrum Trailblazer. 

Inspiring a pipeline of young people is a passion for Hollis. Earlier in his career while at Aerospace Corporation, he was Chairman of the Robert Herndon Science Competition to encourage STEM interest among lower-income and minority middle and high school students. He also served as Aerospace Corporation’s Black Caucus Vice Chairman, and later in his career participated in the Jacobs Leadership Development Program. Through DiscoverE he has conducted engineering workshops in schools, and has supported educational programs for homeless youth.

Hollis has also supported the broader community through organizations including Habitat for Humanity and the Los Angeles Urban League Young Professionals.

He holds an MBA from University of Maryland, College Park, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Clemson University. He currently serves on the Clemson University’s Honors College Advisory Board. 

About Stellar Solutions

Stellar Solutions is a global aerospace and systems engineering services provider to commercial, defense, intelligence, civil and international sectors.  Stellar Solutions provides systems engineering capabilities and strategic support for global communications, remote sensing, national defense, and space exploration. These solutions to customer critical needs connect technology and customers across multiple domains. With physical operations throughout the U.S. and the globe, Stellar Solutions is a recognized leader in delivering end-to-end critical expertise and problem-solving skills. stellarsolutions.com

Founder of 27-year aerospace engineering services company honored for a life’s work of mentoring, hiring, and funding women leaders

Palo Alto, CA – Celeste Ford, Board Chair of Stellar Solutions, Inc. and Managing Director at Stellar Ventures, was bestowed the AWESOME Legendary Leadership (ALL) Award at the 9^th Annual AWESOME Symposium gathering last month in Chicago, IL.

The ALL Award recognizes women leaders who have achieved professional excellence and success, have addressed challenges impacting opportunities for women in the supply chain field, and have advanced to the highest levels of leadership and roles with broadest impact. 

“Celeste Ford is an extraordinary role model who began her aerospace engineering career as the only woman in a room, grew a renowned global company, expanded opportunities for women there and throughout her industry, and now is at the forefront of space venture investing,” said Ann Drake, Chair and Founder of AWESOME.

AWESOME is the preeminent women’s leadership group for the supply chain industry, with more than 1,500 women in diverse senior supply chain leadership roles making up the organization. The Symposium is AWESOME’s signature annual event, and this year’s theme was “The New Possible: Igniting Powerful Progress.”

As Founder of Stellar Solutions, the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award-winning aerospace engineering services company, Ford pioneered a new business model that ensured its talented engineers were working in their “dream jobs.”  This created a team of experts who forge high-impact solutions to customers’ critical needs across defense and intelligence, commercial, civil and international realms.

From the company’s inception in 1995, Ford served as CEO until 2018 when she became Board Chair.  She launched Stellar Ventures in 2022 which is distinguished as a woman-led firm investing in the next generation of space technology companies.

Ford has cultivated opportunities for entrepreneurial growth and innovation for women outside Stellar Solutions as well. She has served as a mentor and speaker at her alma maters the University of Notre Dame and Stanford University.

Ford’s numerous honors include Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Baldrige Foundation and the National Association of Women Business Owners, Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernest & Young, and Small Business Executive of the Year from National Defense Industry Association. Under her leadership, Stellar Solutions has been named a Fortune Magazine Great Place to Work® since 2014.

Ford is a member of numerous public, private and nonprofit Boards, including the Board of Trustees at the University of Notre Dame and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Fellow.

AWESOME was founded in 2013 by Ann Drake, former CEO of DSC Logistics. After nine years, AWESOME remains the preeminent women’s leadership group for the supply chain industry, with more than 1,500 women in diverse senior supply chain leadership roles making up the organization. The Symposium is AWESOME’s signature annual event, and this year’s theme was “The New Possible: Igniting Powerful Progress.” The AWESOME Symposium is an integral part of the organization’s mission to advance and transform the future of supply chain leadership by bringing together senior women leaders for connecting, learning, collaboration, recognition, and inspiration. In addition to their annual Symposium, AWESOME curates a series of virtual events each month, maintains the AWESOME Excellence in Education Scholarship Program, and, since 2016, has partnered with Gartner on annual research studying the progress of women in supply chain. 

About Stellar Solutions, Inc.:  Stellar Solutions is a global aerospace and systems engineering services provider to commercial, defense, intelligence, civil and international sectors.  Stellar Solutions provides rapid-response capabilities related to global surveillance and cyber-security, space exploration, risk management, and technology optimization. These solutions to clients’ critical needs involve satellites in space, sensors on Earth, and intricate technology connections across multiple frontiers. With physical operations in California, Colorado, the greater Washington DC area, London and France, as well as employees throughout the U.S. and the globe, Stellar Solutions has become a recognized leader in delivering end-to-end critical expertise and problem-solving skills to dozens of significant programs. Stellar Solutions Foundation supports employees’ community engagement. QuakeFinder, Stellar Solutions’ humanitarian R&D division, pursues earthquake prediction models. www.stellarsolutions.com