WestEnd Capital Management

Being strategic about your charitable giving can not only help you stretch your dollars; it could also give more meaning to whatever you're able to contribute. How do you like to give back? Tell us in the comments.

What can’t she do? In a huge first, Bridgit Mendler’s startup, Northwood Space, completed a test last week that saw its prototype antenna “Frankie” connect with imagery satellites in orbit. Mendler, the former Disney darling and certified-platinum singer, raised $6.3 million in seed funding from Andreesen Horowitz and others earlier this year. Northwood, founded in 2023 by Mendler and her husband, wants to mass-produce new-age ground stations (to replace the large, circular antennas that communicate with satellites) to make it easier for space companies to rent them. Mendler has described the company’s mission as “building a data highway between earth and space.” The antenna Northwood used in the test was built in four months and was able to be set up and communicating with satellites in just six hours. It has the potential to connect with multiple satellites simultaneously, a major shift from the outdated antennas that have to be pointed directly at a satellite to communicate. Planet, Northwood’s imagery satellite partner, called the successful test a “major milestone,” with their senior director of global ground networks telling CNBC, “Northwood is not only solving for historical issues like cost and scale, but has built and successfully field-tested their phased array antenna faster than previously thought.” Next up, Northwood plans to deploy its ground station system at various sites around the globe in the first half 2025. Mendler, who also finished her law degree at Harvard earlier this year, just keeps stacking her résumé. ?? : Getty / Northwood Space