Kyten Technologies

American battery pack factory

Winter 2026ActiveIndustrialsManufacturing and RoboticsManufacturingAerospaceSeattle, WA, USA

Company

Kyten Technologies is building a factory to manufacture custom aerospace-grade battery packs. 100,000+ drones, submarines, and satellites are being built in the US, but the legacy supply chain can't keep up. During our six years at Starlink, we put 5,000+ battery packs into space. Now, we're bringing rapid development and volume production of aerospace-grade battery packs to the entire industry.

Verdict

High Signal

Market Opportunity

Defense and aerospace manufacturing is a $100B+ TAM with acute supply chain pressure — drone, satellite, and submarine programs are scaling rapidly (the website cites 100,000+ vehicles being built in the US). ICP is clear: aerospace/defense OEMs who need custom battery packs quickly without legacy supplier delays. Pricing power is high in this segment and switching costs are significant once qualified.

High Signal

Founder Signal

Both founders are deeply credentialed in exactly this domain. Cooper McBride: Boeing EE (2019), SpaceX Hardware Test Engineer → Manager (3.25 yrs), Shield AI Senior Manager Test Engineering (1.7 yrs) — built a 20+ person team from scratch. Lucas Maddox: SpaceX Hardware Test Engineer across Starlink battery/solar, Direct-to-Cell, and satellite production testing (2.5 yrs). Combined 8+ years in aerospace electrical systems, and they personally oversaw 6,000+ battery packs deployed to orbit. This is an unusually direct founder-to-problem fit.

Medium Signal

Competition

No competitor data surfaced in research, but the legacy supply chain (slow, overpriced Tier 1 suppliers) is the named competitor. EaglePicher, Ultralife, and Concorde Battery are established aerospace battery incumbents, but Kyten's thesis is speed and rapid qualification vs. their slow cycles. The real risk is large primes doing this in-house or existing Tier 1s modernizing. Hardware manufacturing moat is real but takes time to build.

High Signal

Product

Claims '6,000+ battery packs deployed to low earth orbit at SpaceX' -- if this represents customer deployment rather than team background, it is significant traction. Detailed technical features in FAQ: custom pack geometry, all cell chemistries, integrated BMS, resettable fusing, thermal control. Team from SpaceX, Shield AI, Tesla. No pricing page, no other named customers.

OverallA Tier

Kyten has strong founder-market fit -- two EEs who claim 6,000+ battery packs deployed to SpaceX LEO operations. If this represents real customer deployment, it is exceptional traction for a hardware startup. Detailed technical specs (custom geometry, all cell chemistries, integrated BMS, thermal control) with team from SpaceX, Shield AI, and Tesla. Main risk is whether the SpaceX claim is team background vs customer deployment, and whether they can diversify beyond a single customer. The defense/space battery market is large and growing.

Active Founders

Lucas Maddox

Co-Founder

For nearly three years at Starlink, Lucas owned some of the program's most difficult and urgent test and manufacturing challenges. Before SpaceX, Lucas cofounded the University of Wisconsin's solar car team, building its electrical system and organization from scratch. B.S. in Electrical Engineering, specifically Power Systems.

Cooper McBride

Co-Founder

Cooper has spent more than 6 years in the aerospace industry, primarily at SpaceX and Shield AI. At SpaceX, he managed the Starlink Hardware Test team, which was responsible for developing automated test stands for all the components on the satellites. At Shield AI, he started the Hardware Test Team from scratch and grew it to over 20 people in under a year. B.S. in Electrical Engineering, specifically, Power Electronics.

Kyten Technologies

TierA Tier

BatchWinter 2026

Team Size2

StatusActive

LocationSeattle, WA, USA

Last Updated2 days ago

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