Today, Apex announced their Series B funding round, led by XYZ Ventures and CRV, with participation from Upfront. And if you spend much time in LA, you’ll quickly realize that we’re in a groundswell of space and defense startups.

Is it because of the rich engineering talent coming out of Caltech, UCLA, USC, Harvey Mudd, and all the other universities?

Is it because of the long history in the region of aerospace and aviation expertise, from Northrup Grumman and Lockheed Martin to JPL and Nasa?

Is it because SpaceX spearheaded a pool of startup-minded thinkers who are now starting their own businesses?

It’s all of those things. And all of those things contributed to Ian Cinnamon founding Apex right here in California. Apex builds satellite buses quicker and more affordably than ever before, allowing companies to rapidly expand critical satellite deployment.

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Ian on This Week in Startups. So rather than writing a long blog post about why this business is so necessary (it is) and why we at Upfront are so excited to support it (we are), I’ll let you hear straight from him about:

• The origin of Apex and why it had to be built in Los Angeles
• Why space is a desirable sector for investors and founders
• The complexities of building satellites (and how Apex has unlocked the market)
• The launch of its first satellite and taking a selfie from space

I hope you’ll check out the conversation here, and join me in congratulating Ian, Max, and Apex team on today’s milestone.