Investing in the security tech market with NightDragon.

Summary

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T-Minus Space Daily: Investing in the Security Tech Market with NightDragon

Podcast: T-Minus Space Daily
Host: Maria Varmazes, N2K Networks
Guest: Dave DeWalt, CEO of NightDragon
Date: January 19, 2026

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Overview

This episode of T-Minus Space Daily explores the intersection of security technology investment and the rapidly evolving space sector, focusing on NightDragon’s involvement with Hawkeye 360 and broader trends in space cybersecurity. Host Maria Varmazes interviews Dave DeWalt, CEO of NightDragon, to discuss the significance of signal intelligence (SIGINT), NightDragon's strategic investments in space, the growing importance of securing space infrastructure, and the synergies between their portfolio companies.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. NightDragon’s Investment in Hawkeye 360

[03:09–05:18]

• Background: NightDragon, an investment advisory firm focused solely on the security technology market, has led a Series E funding round for Hawkeye 360, a commercial leader in space-based SIGINT (Signal Intelligence).
• Long-term partnership: NightDragon has supported Hawkeye 360 for nearly five years, participating in almost every funding round.
• John Serafini’s Leadership: Dave praises the CEO of Hawkeye 360, highlighting his rare leadership in the space and security sectors.
• Recent Developments:
  • Hawkeye 360 is preparing for public opportunities and acquisitions; the recent acquisition of ISA is a part of this expansion.
  • NightDragon views the company as “crossing the chasm,” emphasizing its maturity and impact.
• Mission Focus: The investment is driven not just by commercial potential but by a broader mission to secure the world and enhance the detection of global threats.

Quote:
“The company’s got a real opportunity to drive value for its shareholders, but also, and maybe just as important, create a mission of securing our world. That is really something Hawkeye excels at.”
— Dave DeWalt [04:43]

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2. Differentiating through Signal Processing & AI

[05:18–07:46]

• Hawkeye 360’s Core Tech: Specializes in low Earth orbit software-defined radios (SDRs) used for monitoring and analyzing ground-based RF emissions.
• Expansion & Coverage: Operates 12–13 clusters worldwide, offering powerful revisit rates and near-global coverage.
• Emphasis on AI & Signal Processing:
  • Focus on building a comprehensive database for pattern recognition in RF emissions.
  • Utilizes AI to differentiate between various signals (e.g., dark ships, aircraft types, GPS jammers) and recognize patterns of life.
  • Delivers high accuracy and low false positives for real-time anomaly detection.
• Strategic Value: Elevated as a critical SIGINT infrastructure, relied upon by multiple nation-states for security responses and peacekeeping.

Quote:
“Signal processing is at the heart of it, and AI and software is the core. This company has really created an unbelievable database of patterns of life recognition around ground-based RF emissions.”
— Dave DeWalt [05:56]

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3. NightDragon’s Broader Vision: Security Tech across Domains

[07:46–10:14]

• Investment Philosophy: NightDragon invests in security technologies across five domains: space, air, maritime, ground, and the “invisible domain” (cyber, AI, quantum).
• Interconnected Risks: Recognizes how risks and threats are converging across domains, such as how space communications are intertwined with cyber and supply chain concerns.
• Strategic Importance of Space:
  • Space is now seen as the next critical frontier for economies, infrastructures, and national security.
  • Whoever controls and secures space will possess significant economic and security advantages, particularly from the American perspective.

Quote:
“We see national security areas as extremely important. We believe that space is a frontier now that’s becoming incredibly important… who controls space and can secure space really is going to have an incredible economic advantage as well as a national security advantage.”
— Dave DeWalt [09:13]

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4. Integrating Portfolio Companies for Cross-Domain Response

[12:26–15:12]

• Complementary Investments:
  • Capella Space (SAR Technology): Invested at similar timing to Hawkeye 360; specializes in synthetic aperture radar for imaging through clouds/night—pivotal for military conflicts. Later sold to IonQ, a quantum company.
  • Saronic (Maritime Drones): Develops maritime swarm drones capable of RF signaling and integration with space-based SIGINT for real-time maritime/space interplay.
• Synergy and “Tipping & Queuing”:
  • NightDragon’s vision is to have portfolio companies collaborate, creating a feedback loop between surveillance domains—space, maritime, air—for coordinated, tech-driven responses to threats.
  • Hawkeye 360 acts as a central node for signal processing and anomaly detection, enhancing cross-domain intelligence.

Quote:
“That’s really our NightDragon vision—what can we do to bring all our portfolio companies together, have them work together, really augmenting SIGINT platforms around the world and response in a way that enables the latest technology, cutting-edge technology, to really survive and thrive.”
— Dave DeWalt [14:49]

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5. Space Cyber Threats & the Need for Built-In Security

[15:12–17:24]

• Evolving Threat Landscape:
  • Dave draws on two decades of cybersecurity leadership (FireEye, Mandiant, McAfee), charting cyber threats’ evolution from hacktivism to warfare.
• Unique Space Cyber Risks:
  • Highlights the urgent need for “security by design” at all stages of satellite and space platform development.
  • Warns of both “space-to-space” and “space-to-ground” hacking, emphasizing satellites’ potential as both threat vectors and targets.
  • Advocates for the integration of resilient hardware (“securing silicon to the satellite”) to prevent catastrophic breaches.

Quote:
“If we don’t think about silicon the satellite for security, bad things can happen… we’re now seeing a lot of capabilities from space as well to do hacking from space as well. So not only can they be hacked, they can hack.”
— Dave DeWalt [16:04]

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6. Closing Reflections: 2026 as a “Crossing the Chasm” Year

[17:24–18:33]

• Looking Ahead: Dave reflects on the challenges and opportunities of the coming year, referencing the Chinese adage, “may we live in interesting times.”
• Call for Collaboration: Emphasizes the necessity of public-private partnerships, media engagement, and collective effort to secure the domain and deliver economic advantage worldwide.
• A Message for the Industry: Stresses vigilance, cooperation, and readiness for heightened threats in 2026 across political, military, and economic fronts.

Quote:
“It takes a village, right? We need public-private partnerships… everybody’s gotta work together if we’re gonna secure this domain and create economic advantages for everybody on the planet… I think 2026 is kind of a crossing the chasm year. And it’s a big year for space.”
— Dave DeWalt [17:40]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “You can really see the company crossing the chasm… also, and maybe just as important, create a mission of securing our world.” — Dave DeWalt [04:37]
• “Hawkeye 360 specializes in low earth orbit SDR… this company has really created an unbelievable database of patterns of life recognition around ground-based RF emissions.” — Dave DeWalt [05:45]
• “Whoever controls space and can secure space really is going to have an incredible economic advantage as well as a national security advantage.” — Dave DeWalt [09:13]
• “The biggest killer application in space right now is communications. Next generation communication… and at the heart of communications is secure communications.” — Dave DeWalt [13:53]
• “If we don’t think about silicon the satellite for security, bad things can happen.” — Dave DeWalt [16:11]
• “It takes a village… everybody’s gotta work together if we’re gonna secure this domain and create economic advantages for everybody on the planet.” — Dave DeWalt [17:39]

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Thematic Highlights

• Interdependency: NightDragon’s strategy revolves around cross-domain integration—recognizing that security in space, air, sea, land, and cyber are tightly linked.
• Technology as Peacekeeper: The best security tech not only generates returns but fulfills a mission to make the world safer.
• Security by Design: Both for satellites and for the commercial infrastructure that underpins the space industry, proactive cybersecurity is non-negotiable.
• Preparedness for the Future: 2026 is portrayed as a turning point; visionary investment and collaboration now will chart the course for geopolitical and economic advantage.

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Timeline of Key Segments

• [01:21–02:57] – Introduction to SIGINT and NightDragon’s role in Series E funding
• [03:09–05:18] – NightDragon’s relationship with Hawkeye 360, leadership perspective
• [05:18–07:46] – Signal processing, AI, and advancement in pattern recognition
• [07:46–10:14] – NightDragon’s multi-domain investment strategy; importance of securing space
• [12:26–15:12] – Synergy among NightDragon portfolio companies (Capella Space, Saronic, Hawkeye 360)
• [15:12–17:24] – Space cybersecurity threats and priorities
• [17:24–18:33] – Reflections on 2026, calls for collaboration, closing remarks

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This episode provides a compelling look at how strategic investment, technological innovation, and collaboration are converging to secure the expanding infrastructure of space—underscored by NightDragon’s unique vantage point at the intersection of technology, security, and public mission.

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the N2K space network.

[B]

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[A]

Sigint, or Signals Intelligence is the practice of intercepting and analyzing electronic signals like phone calls, emails, radar or telemetry to gather actionable intelligence for national security, defense and military operations. It's primarily conducted by agencies in the United States like the nsa, but over the last decade we have seen many companies in the commercial sector break through in this vital area of national defense, especially in space. Now who is investing in these companies? Well, we ask the experts. Welcome to T Minus Space Special Edition. I'm Maria Ramazas. NightDragon is an investment advisory firm that focuses entirely on the security technology market. They recently led a Series E funding round for Hawkeye 360, which is the first commercial company to detect, geolocate and characterize a broad range of RF signals from a growing constellation in low earth orbit. My guest today is Dave DeWalt, CEO of NightDragon on investing in technology and space.

[C]

Greetings everybody. Dave DeWalt here. I'm the founder and CEO of Nightdragon and former multi time CEO in the security tech world. And thank you for having me. Maria.

[A]

It's my pleasure Dave. Thank you so much for speaking with me today. What brings us together is a conversation that I actually had with John Serafini in December about Hawkeye360 hitting their series E with Night Dragon support and it just felt like a great time for me to bring you in and sort of get the Night Dragon point of view on this great news. So if you wouldn't mind telling me a bit about that series and Night Dragon support of Hawkeye 360.

[C]

Yeah, Maria, I wish I could have done it with John that would have been fun to have it. Yeah. We've been honored to partner with John Serafini. He is rare leader in all of technology, quite frankly, and especially in space and security, national security. We've been working with the asset for, gosh, coming up on close to five years and have watched the company grow and expand under John's leadership. And we really had a lot of kind of feelings about different segments in space we can get into later. But Buckeye360 is a very unique asset. As you know, we are very proud to lead or co lead the most recent round, which we participated in nearly every round that they've had. But you can really see the company crossing the chasm. And that is a testament to the hard work of the team, but also the partners and investors and the whole community supporting Hawkeye. And it's been a lot of fun to see him doing preparation for public opportunities and acquisitions which was part of this round. We acquired a company called isa, as you know and he talked about. But the company's got a real opportunity to drive value for its shareholders. But also, and maybe just as important, create a mission of securing our world. And that is really something Hawkeye excels at, is the mission of being able to help to detect bad things happening on the planet, tipping and queuing that to various responses and saving people's lives and helping to create a better world that we live in. So it's been an honor.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And I definitely want to put a pin in Night Dragon's interest in the space industry. I want to put a pin in that and go back to that. But before I get to that, I wanted to stay on Hawkeye360 for just a moment because I am super interested with the ISA acquisition about the emphasis on improving signal processing versus merely just adding satellite capacity. And I'm curious if you could tell me more about the strategy there.

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, certainly first of all, for the listeners here, Hawkeye360 specializes in low earth orbit SDR. So software defined radios that essentially are doing radio frequency management on Earth. Signals coming from the ground. We now have 12 clusters, 13 clusters up and running across the world. We've got some powerful revisit rates really covering most of the planet at this point. We'll continue to expand that, but really signal processing is at the heart of it and AI and software is the core of that. And this company has really created a unbelievable database of patterns of life recognition around ground based RF emissions. So knowing the difference between a ship in the ocean that is dark and perhaps have its AIs transponders turned off and you might be hearing or listening to a push to talk radio on the ship, to perhaps an aircraft that's flying commercial versus military, or a GPS jammer, or just about any signal coming off the ground. These patterns of life recognition really helps create a very powerful way of creating response to whatever anomalous behavior might be occurring with those patterns of life. So to use your phrase, signal intelligence, that signal intelligence, the faster you can identify it with the greater accuracy and efficacy, creates a very powerful platform and proud to say Hawkeye360 has very, very high efficacy, very, very low false positives, very strong patterns of life recognition, creating it a real important apparatus to all the SIGINT platforms around the world. Now many nation states are using this platform and it's become, you know, I believe, a vital piece of infrastructure for, you know, not just the world to use, but to create peace, like I mentioned as well. With a platform like theirs going back.

[A]

To sort of, you know, Night Dragon's interest in segments of the space industry, I can see how, given how you're describing what Hawkeye 360 is doing and that efficacy you were talking about with sigint, how it also fits into the larger picture of what nightdragon is interested in and the kind of companies that you all invest in. And I'm curious if you could tell me a bit more about Nitragon's interest specifically in space.

[C]

Yeah, Maria. So again for the listeners for 30 seconds, Night Dragon is an investment advisory firm. We focus entirely on the security tech market. So security tech, much like biotech or fintech, is essentially focused on all five domains of security, particularly risks and threats happening across all five domains. So we're talking about space, obviously, but certainly other areas like air and maritime are important to us ground and land based systems. And then also the invisible domain, I like to call it, which is cyber AI quantum areas. And as we're knowing, Maria, like these are all morphing together a bit. And space meets cyber, cyber meets supply chain, supply chain meets space. You know, maritime meets space. And you tip and cue these SIGINT platforms to work together across all domains. So to answer your question, Night Dragon focuses in on deploying capital into security tech companies. We've really focused largely on the biggest threats and risks in all those five domains. And particularly in space. We see national security areas as extremely important. We believe that space is a frontier now that's becoming incredibly important. Not just incredibly important already is it is the future of our geographies, our economies, our infrastructure. The race to the Moon is incredibly important, as you know and I've always spoken about. But whoever controls space and can secure space really is going to have an incredible economic advantage as well as a national security advantage. So we see this domain as extremely important to the future of mankind, and certainly from an American point of view, an American future as well.

[A]

We'll be right back.

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[A]

I'm wondering about so Nike Dragon's ongoing support of Hawkeye 360. Maybe how that investment interacts with other portfolio companies of yours.

[C]

Yeah, quite a few in fact. Maria we also had an investment we did similar timing called Capella Space which you know. Capella focused in on Synthetic Aperture Radar or SAR technology, another microwaving kind of set of capabilities that allowed you to see through clouds and at night. Particularly important with the Russian Ukrainian conflicts which had heavy cloud cover and oftentimes missions during nighttime. So Synthetic Aperture Radar is important. Hawkeye partnering and tipping and queuing between RF signals and that of taking images of the ground through clouds and at nighttime was extremely important. They continue to work together now. Capella we sold, we had a great exit to a quantum company which is a whole conversation into itself. But a company called IonQ, which was a public company, acquired Capella Space. But it was really important because we see a lot of threats and risks to communications. And as you know, probably the most killer application in space right now is communications. Next generation communication. Most of our fiber optic cables on the ocean floor are slowly but surely moving to space. We're seeing next generation communication platforms coming and really being needed to serve this entire planet. And at the heart of communications is secure communications. So, you know, Capella's capabilities with SAR and comms, coupled with quantum based encryption and resiliency became important. So that's just to name two of them. We also have quite a few other companies involved this with maritime and air domains as well. A company called Saronic, which makes maritime drones and swarm drones. These have the ability to do RF signaling from the maritime domain, but also tipping and queuing to space domains as well. So if you see something in space, you can tip and queue to maritime. Maritime can also create a response platform there as well. But we see that integrated to just every domain at this point. So Hawkeye becomes an epicenter of a lot of signaling processing. But also these other domain and portfolio companies we have as well, signaling back and forth, working together as one. And that's really our Nightdragon vision. What can we do to bring all our portfolio companies together, have them work together really augmenting SIGINT platforms around the world and response in a way that enables the latest technology, cutting edge technology, to really survive and thrive. And that's what we're all about here at night. Dragon.

[A]

That's awesome. And I'm also wondering, I don't often get to talk to people who have such a great vision into cybersecurity as well. So I have to ask a space cyber question. I'm curious, as you were mentioning, about the importance of space connectivity and securing space communications. What interests you in the realm of space cyber, if we want to call it that right now?

[C]

Oh, a vast array of threats and risk. Maria. As you know, I was CEO of FireEye and Mandiant before that. McAfee. You know, I've 20 years of knowing breaches and issues related to this domain. And when you think about cyber, you know, we first watch, you know, kind of hacktivism, give way to crime, crime give way to, you know, some sort of espionage, espionage give way to terrorism, give way to warfare, warfare in the form of disruption and destruction of assets. And now we have a whole range of dangers happening in that cyber domain. Apply that to space and it's A pretty scary world. So you start with, are these platforms secured by design? Have we built the satellites, the communications, the infrastructure so it can't be hacked? How do we help solve that problem? I call it silicon the satellite. How do we think about securing silicon the satellite? And if we don't think about silicon the satellite for security, bad things can happen. So the first thing is design of security natively in to make sure what we put up in space has resiliency to threats and attacks. And we've watched this during these various conflicts around the world. But aside from that, you start to then go to weaponization from space. We're now seeing a lot of capabilities from space as well to do hacking from space as well. So not only can they be hacked, they can hack. So the power of these platforms are really interesting, Maria. As next generation, invisible domains kind of meet these new domains. And I have to say, I just love being in the middle of it. It's a mission to be a part of it. I'm just thankful for Night Dragon and the to give us a capability to hopefully make a difference in the world.

[A]

Well, that's fantastic. Well, thank you for sharing your expertise and your vision with me, Dave. And I'm just thrilled that I finally got a chance to speak with you. I want to make sure I give you the last word. If there's anything you want to leave our audience with that we didn't talk about but you wanted to mention. I want to give you that chance.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, I would just say, you know, 2026 is going to be an interesting year from a lot of point of view. Exciting. I always use the adage, may we live in interesting times, which is a curse, potentially and a blessing. And so being vigilant at these times is really important. And my main message to you as part of saying that is it takes a village. Right? We need public private partnerships. We need partners like yourself and the media to help create education of the issues and the risks and the threats. But everybody's gotta work together if we're gonna secure this domain and create economic advantages for everybody on the planet. So I think 2026 is kind of a crossing the chasm year. And it's a big year for space. It's a big year for threats and political, military, otherwise economic. So again, I'm just proud to be a part of it and look forward to being part of the village.

[A]

Thank you so much, Dave. Thank you for your time. I greatly appreciate it.

[C]

Yeah, thank you, Maria. Thanks for having.

[B]

Me.

[A]

That's T minus special edition brought to you by N2K Cyberwire we'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like this show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app or you can send an email to space2k.com we are proud that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine and of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector. From the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies, N2K helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn and stay informed. As the nexus for discovery and connection, we bring you the people, the technology and the ideas shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn [e-mail] N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our Executive producer is Jennifer Ibin. Peter Kilby is our publisher and I am T minus host Maria Varmazes. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.

[B]

Sa.

[C]

Foreign.

[B]

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