The Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator, a new Los Angeles-based program, focuses on the next generation of space technology companies and related frontier technologies. Startup companies in commercial space or that are developing related technologies are encouraged to apply. The program consortium includes: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, SAIC, and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Applications Open |
NOW! |
Application Deadline |
Apr 7, 2019 |
Start of the Program |
Jul 15, 2019 |
Demo Day |
Oct 10, 2019 |
Location: Los Angeles, CA USA
Questions? Check out the FAQ
×Matt Kozlov
Program Director
Matt is the Managing Director of the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator in partnership with US Air Force, JPL NASA, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Maxar Technologies and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Previously he was the founding Managing Director of The Cedars-Sinai Accelerator in Partnership with Techstars which to date has helped 28 rapidly growing healthcare tech companies commercialize and raise capital. Graduates include: Tasso Inc., AppliedVR, Deep6 AI, Well Health and Silversheet (acquired by AMN Healthcare).
Prior to joining Techstars Matt was the Head of Corporate Development at Telesign, a leading antifraud firm and one of LA’s fastest growing technology companies (acquired by BICS).
Previously he was CEO of Moonshark, a venture backed by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Qualcomm bringing to market original mobile entertainment. He has also worked at Sony Music Entertainment (VP, Web & Mobile Products), Yahoo! (corporate strategy, product development) and Bain and Company (management consulting). He graduated from Harvard, where he studied economics.
×François Chopard
François has over 20 years of experience in strategy consulting, entrepreneurship and business development.
He has founded Starburst Accelerator, the 1st incubator/accelerator dedicated to aerospace start-ups.
François specializes in the Aviation Aerospace and Defense industries featuring high stakes technology and has developed a wide experience of innovation-related issues.
This has led him to speak about innovation at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He works now on topics like future trends, product strategy, open innovation for companies mainly from the aerospace industry as well as investment funds.
Previously to joining Impulse Partners, François was a Paris-based partner at Oliver Wyman. He was also founder and CEO of Arendi Consulting.
François received his MS in Electrical Engineering from the Ecole Supérieur d’Electricité (Supélec) in Paris, France. He has started his carreer as an Airbus Engineer and spent two years in a US Airforce research lab.

The Aerospace Corporation
Andre Doumitt
×Chitra Sivanandam
SAIC
Tech junkie and entrepreneur who has experience working across the spectrum from startups to large corporations; experienced in the capacity of an investor looking at investments that serve the DoD/Intel market as well as commercial markets. Always interested in helping to strategize and execute on new concepts.
×Cody Simms
Techstars
Cody is a Partner at Techstars – the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed – and works as steward of Techstars’ equity investments and venture capital funds for one of the most active early stage venture investors in the world. As of October 2018, Techstars is investing in ~460 companies per year and the Techstars portfolio has gone on to raise nearly $6Bn in follow-on capital. Techstars Accelerator programs are the first investor in ~5% of all Series A financings in the USA. Cody works at the board level with companies including Two Bit Circus, StatMuse, WeBuyGold, and GameWisp.
Previously, Cody was Executive Director at Techstars and head of Techstars accelerator investments and operations in North America, which roughly doubled in size to over 20 locations across the region and ~200 investments per year during his tenure. Cody joined Techstars in 2013 to launch and serve as Managing Director for the Disney Accelerator, powered by Techstars, co-investing in 20 startups alongside The Walt Disney Company in 2014 and 2015.
Earlier in his career, Cody held roles including Chief Product Officer at StumbleUpon, Vice President of Product Management at Yahoo, and Product Manager at The New York Times, Sprint, and NBC Internet.
×Shay Har-Noy
MAXAR
Dr. Shay Har-Noy serves as Vice President, General Manager of our Platform business — our fast pace, high growth effort to get DigitalGlobe’s 15 year digital library in the cloud and available for processing. Before joining DigitalGlobe, Shay (Shy) was founder and CEO of Tomnod, an innovative company combining crowdsourcing and machine learning to create new applications for satellite imagery. Tomnod was acquired by DigitalGlobe in early 2013 and is now a critical component of our Geospatial Big Data portfolio. Shay was previously at ViaSat where he worked on the deployment and market positioning of satellite communication systems around the globe. Shay graduated summa cum laude from Rice University with degrees in Economics and Electrical Engineering and received a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering with research in image processing from UC-San Diego.
×Vandad Espahbodi
Co-founder
Van has worked with governments and aerospace suppliers in business development leadership roles for over 15 years at Raytheon and the British air navigation services provider. He has helped shape regulations and develop key segments of airspace safety and infrastructure and believes true innovation is a result of collaboration between legacy industry and entrepreneurs.
Prior to that, he served as legislative aide for U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff and U.S. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Van currently serves as a member of the Economic Development Advisory Council for the City of El Segundo. Following graduate studies at George Mason University in International Commerce and Public Policy, Van participated in executive management programs at Thunderbird School of Global Management and Cranfield School of Management in the UK.
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