Raven Space Systems

Cover Block

Field	Value
Name	Raven Space Systems
Tagline	Modernizing Aerospace & Defense manufacturing with composite 3D printing
Headquarters	Broomfield, Colorado, United States
Founded	2020
Stage	Seed (Pre-Seed round closed November 2024)
Business Model	B2B / B2G
Industry	Defense and Aerospace manufacturing
Technology Type	Hardware (composite additive manufacturing)
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (2): Blake Herren, Ryan Cowdrey
Funding Label	Pre-Seed
Total Disclosed	~$2,000,000 equity, plus ~$4.5M in non-dilutive contracts

Links

• Website: https://www.ravenspacesystems.com/
• Careers portal: https://portal.ravenspacesystems.com/mission

Executive Summary

Raven Space Systems is a Broomfield, Colorado hardware startup commercializing a patent-pending Microwave Assisted Deposition (MAD) 3D printing process for aerospace-grade thermoset and ceramic composites. The company was founded in 2020 by Blake Herren (CEO) and Ryan Cowdrey (CTO), both mechanical engineers out of the University of Oklahoma [Forbes]. Its differentiation rests on a deposition process the company says minimizes labor, tooling, and waste while producing silicon and silicon carbide parts at scale, including components for thermal protection systems and space return capsules [EDC; Forbes]. Capitalization to date is modest on the equity side: a $2.0M pre-seed closed on November 20, 2024, with participation from Backswing Ventures, 46 Venture Capital, Mana Ventures, What If Ventures, and Cape Fear Ventures [Crunchbase]. The non-dilutive stack includes roughly $4.5M in contracts from the Air Force, NASA and others since 2020, anchored by a $1.8M AFWERX STTR Phase II award in November 2024 [BizWest; Startland News]. Colorado's Economic Development Commission has approved up to $5.85M in performance-based Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits tied to a stated plan to bring 392 jobs to Broomfield over eight years [Area Development]. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the items to watch are the transition from STTR Phase II deliverables into a priced production contract, the stand-up of the cubic-meter industrial-scale printer [SpaceNews], and whether headcount scales toward the hiring plan implied by the open roles and the state incentive package.

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Crunchbase, SpaceNews, BizWest, and Area Development.

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis	Value
Stage	Seed (Pre-Seed closed Nov 2024)
Business Model	B2B / B2G hardware and parts supply
Industry / Vertical	Aerospace and Defense manufacturing
Technology Type	Composite additive manufacturing (MAD process)
Geography	Broomfield, Colorado, USA
Growth Profile	Venture Scale, grant-anchored
Founding Team	Two technical co-founders, both ME backgrounds
Funding	~$2.0M equity disclosed, ~$4.5M non-dilutive

How the Company Got Here

Raven Space Systems was founded in 2020 by two mechanical engineers, Blake Herren and Ryan Cowdrey, who met at the University of Oklahoma and built the company around a deposition technique they had been developing in academic settings [Forbes]. The company describes itself as "a venture-backed startup with active government programs and strong commercial momentum, helping revitalize the industrial base by developing breakthroughs in automated manufacturing" [company website]. Its stated mission is "to transform composite manufacturing to alleviate critical supply chain bottlenecks and accelerate innovation" [company website].

The company is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $5,852,666 in performance-based Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits over eight years tied to a stated plan to bring 392 jobs to Broomfield [Area Development; BizWest]. Headcount as of August 2025 is reported at four [Fabbaloo].

Key milestones: company formation in 2020; accumulation of SBIR/STTR contracts [Factories in Space]; research agreements with NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory [SpaceNews]; a $1.8M AFWERX STTR Phase II award in November 2024 [Startland News]; and a $2.0M pre-seed equity round closing November 20, 2024 [Crunchbase].

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Crunchbase, SpaceNews, Area Development, and BizWest.

Product and Technology

The core product is a class of composite parts (silicon, silicon carbide, ceramic, and thermoset composites) produced through a process the company calls Microwave Assisted Deposition, or MAD. According to the company and a third-party manufacturing database, MAD is patent-pending and is positioned to enable large-scale 3D printing of aerospace-grade composites while minimizing labor, tooling, and waste [Explorium; EDC]. The end-use applications described publicly are thermal protection systems, lightweight structures, and space return capsules [Pitch; City Entrepreneur Podcast].

On the production roadmap, SpaceNews reports the company plans to begin selling parts produced in an industrial-scale printer with a cubic-meter build volume [SpaceNews]. That build envelope is large enough to address full-scale heat shield panels and structural sub-assemblies. The company's website also references a "RavenHome" portal and an internal jobs system [company portal]. The presence of a Senior Software Engineer role indicates the team is investing in in-house tooling [company portal].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Process described by Explorium, EDC and SpaceNews; production economics not publicly disclosed.

Market Research and Opportunity

The market that matters here is the domestic supply of high-temperature composite and ceramic structures for defense and space. The Air Force, through AFWERX, has put non-dilutive capital into the company at the Phase II level [Startland News], NASA and AFRL hold research agreements with the company [SpaceNews], and the National Science Foundation has contributed to the non-dilutive funding stack [NSIN].

Metric	Value
Raven non-dilutive contracts since 2020	$4,500,000
AFWERX STTR Phase II award (Nov 2024)	$1,800,000
Cumulative SBIR/STTR awards to date	$1,000,000
Colorado JGITC ceiling tied to 392 planned jobs	$5,852,666

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Demand signals confirmed by SpaceNews, Startland News, and BizWest; no named third-party TAM source available.

Competitive Landscape

Raven competes with a layer of specialist composite and additive-manufacturing suppliers. The primes named in Raven's database listings (RTX, Airbus, Lockheed Martin) are the most plausible end-customers and partners [CB Insights].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Subject data confirmed by Crunchbase and SpaceNews; competitor set inferred from CB Insights listings.

Opportunity

The size of the prize is becoming a default domestic supplier of high-temperature composite and ceramic structures for the next generation of U.S. defense and space programs. The cited evidence makes that outcome reachable because three federal customers (Air Force via AFWERX, NASA, AFRL) are already paying the company to retire technical risk [Startland News; SpaceNews; NSIN], and the state of Colorado has underwritten a 392-job hiring plan with up to $5.85M of performance-based credits [Area Development].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Scenarios anchored in cited federal awards and state incentives; no named TAM source confirms category sizing.

Sources

1. [Crunchbase] Raven Space Systems funding profile | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/raven-space-systems
2. [SpaceNews] Raven Space Systems coverage of NASA and AFRL agreements and industrial-scale printer plans | https://spacenews.com/
3. [Startland News] Raven Space Systems awarded $1.8M AFWERX STTR Phase II (November 2024) | https://www.startlandnews.com/
4. [BizWest] Raven Space Systems contracts and Broomfield jobs plan | https://bizwest.com/
5. [Area Development] Colorado Economic Development Commission approval of Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit | https://www.areadevelopment.com/
6. [Forbes] Profile of Blake Herren and Ryan Cowdrey, University of Oklahoma backgrounds | https://www.forbes.com/
7. [Factories in Space] Raven Space Systems profile and SBIR/STTR funding tally | https://www.factoriesinspace.com/raven-space-systems
8. [CB Insights] Raven Space Systems company profile and people | https://www.cbinsights.com/company/raven-space-systems
9. [Explorium] Raven Space Systems manufacturing overview and MAD process description | https://www.explorium.ai/manufacturing/companies/raven-space-systems
10. [EDC] Raven Space Systems MAD process description | https://edc.org/
11. [NSIN] Raven Space Systems non-dilutive funding from NASA, AFWERX, NSF | https://www.nsin.mil/
12. [Pitch] Raven Space Systems company page | https://pitch.vc/companies/raven-space-systems
13. [City Entrepreneur Podcast] Interview discussing return capsule applications and fundraising | https://cityentrepreneur.com/
14. [Activate] Raven Space Systems fellow profile | https://activate.org/raven-space-systems
15. [Fabbaloo] Reporting on Raven Space Systems headcount as of August 2025 | https://www.fabbaloo.com/
16. [company website] Raven Space Systems homepage and careers portal | https://www.ravenspacesystems.com/