Nine Fives

Simple, Networked, Driverless, RF Test Equipment

Spring 2026ActiveIndustrialsManufacturing and RoboticsRadarTelecommunicationsElectronicsSan Francisco, CA, USA

Company

Note: This is a preliminary assessment based on limited publicly available information. We did not have access to LinkedIn profiles or live product screenshots for this analysis. We will update this entry with a more thorough review soon.

Verdict

Medium Signal

Market Opportunity

RF test equipment is a real B2B industrial market with defense, aerospace, and telecom buyers — Rohde & Schwarz and Keysight together generate billions annually in this space. 'Driverless' (automated) and networked test equipment targets labs and production floors looking to reduce manual operator costs. ICP is plausible but not articulated in the available data.

Medium Signal

Founder Signal

Andrew Kurtz has 9 years as a mechanical engineer in aerospace; Noah Levy has ~1 decade as an RF engineer also in aerospace. Combined domain expertise is directly relevant to RF test equipment — this is the right team background. However, no LinkedIn data was available to verify specific companies, roles, or shipped products, limiting confidence.

Low Signal

Competition

The RF test equipment market is dominated by entrenched giants: Keysight Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz, National Instruments (NI/Emerson), and Anritsu — all with decades of customer relationships, calibration ecosystems, and certified hardware. No competitor analysis data was provided, and differentiation against these incumbents is entirely unclear from available materials.

Low Signal

Product

No product details visible — no screenshots, pricing, demo, customer logos, or metrics. One-liner describes 'Simple, Networked, Driverless, RF Test Equipment' but zero evidence of a working product, beta customers, or revenue. Pure concept stage based on available data.

OverallC Tier

Two aerospace domain experts with combined ~19 years of relevant experience is the core positive signal here — they likely understand the pain points in RF test workflows firsthand. However, there is essentially no visible product, no press, no customer traction, and no articulated differentiation against Keysight, R&S, and NI who own this market with massive installed bases and certified ecosystems. The 'driverless' angle could be a real wedge if it means automation/software-defined control that reduces lab headcount, but that story isn't told anywhere in available data. This needs a working prototype, at least one named pilot customer, and a clear technical moat before it merits higher conviction.

Active Founders

Andrew Kurtz

Founder

I spent the last 9 years as a mechanical engineer working on a wide variety of aerospace products. Now building better test equipment with Nine Fives

Noah Levy

Founder

RF Engineer with ~1 decade of experience working mostly in aerospace. Now focusing on building next generation RF Test Equipment.

Nine Fives

TierC Tier

BatchSpring 2026

Team Size2

StatusActive

LocationSan Francisco, CA, USA

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