Closing Bell - Manifest Space: HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini on tracking dark oil tankers across the globe, his latest acquisition and a possible IPO 12/26/25

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Morgan Brennan sits down with John Serafini, HawkEye 360 CEO, on the latest episode of Manifest Space. They discuss the company’s role in tracking sanctioned vessels around the world -- so-called ��dark vessels.” Plus, how HawkEye 360’s latest acquisition fits into the long-term strategy and if an IPO is in the cards.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When it comes to tracking sanctioned vessels, much of the intelligence that goes into those missions comes from space. Take Hawkeye 360, a defense tech unicorn that recently closed both a series E funding round and an acquisition. Hawkeye's satellites collect radio frequency, or RF, signal data, which can track anomalous activity from dark vessels or ships that have turned off their AIS signals. Hawkeyes data then combines with imagery and open source intelligence modalities to create what CEO and founder John Serafini calls, quote, turnkey intelligence products that government customers can use. These are vessels that normally have their AIS signal on, but have turned it off for whatever reason.

Oftentimes they turn it off for illicit purposes that they don't want to be tracked. And so when they do so, they're still emitting signals. oftentimes X-BAN or S-BAM radars or push-a-talk radio systems or other beacons within that vessel. And we're able to uniquely identify them, associate them with a Hawkeye identifier, and maintain chain of custody of those vessels, and then track them into perpetuity and start to extract intelligence about what they're doing. That occurs all over the world. It occurs in places like the Caribbean, but it also occurs in the Arabian Gulf and the South China Sea,

everywhere there's ocean. Serafini not confirming the company is involved in these Venezuela dark fleet tracking activities. He makes it a point not to talk about customers, but does note that Hawkeye doesn't have many comps in the market. He won't comment on a possible IPO either, but this is one of the names investors should watch, heading into a year that could see a flurry of defense and space tech IPOs, not the least of which, possibly SpaceX. On this episode, Hawkeye 360's John Serafini on the acquisition of innovative signal

analysis, how policy is changing the defense tech landscape and what he is watching in 26. I'm Morgan Brennan, and this is Manifest Space. Joining me now, John Serafini, founder and CEO of Hawkeye 360, and John, it's great to speak with you. It's been a little while. Hey, Morgan, good to see you. How are you? I'm doing great. So you have some news. You just made an acquisition, innovative signal analysis. What does this do to help bolster the Hawkeye portfolio? Yeah, we're really excited about the news. The acquisition of ISA has been over two years in the making.

It's a fantastic company that's been doing work for the U.S. government for nearly 30 years, and the fit with Hawkeye is exquisite. Not only is it financially accretive to us, but the strategic value of their technology and their processing functionality is substantial. and it will make not only our position servicing the US government customer better, but also influence the capabilities that we can now deliver to our customers around the world.

So when we talk about this capabilities, I mean you're in the business of radio frequency signals. Does this mean you can further analyze all the data you're collecting on a daily basis? Yes, so you'll recall that we own and operate the constellation of small satellites that fly in clusters of three, and they collect RF data,

essentially any signal above a watt and power between about 30 megahertz up to 18 gigahertz from space we can detect and we can analyze. Now, the acquisition that we're making with ISA is an exquisite processing functionality that makes our own processing platform that much better, such that we can very quickly classify different types

of signals, be able to convert that into actionable intelligence for our customers, not just the US government, but also international governments. And what does that government business look like, whether it is U.S. versus international? We're very focused on diversification of our revenue base. So roughly 50% of our business is supporting the U.S. government, a variety of different customers, some of which have been previously disclosed. And then on the international side, we have close to two dozen or so international anchor customers

that we provide capabilities for across, I would refer to as defense, intelligence, national security customers. And when we talk about RF signals and this type of technology, we're talking about what specifically? Yeah, so we collect a variety of different types of emitters. So think radar systems, push-to-talk radio systems, L-band, SAT phones, for example, other types of beacons for targeting tracking and locating bases. This is AIS, ADSB type signals. Basically anything that can emit above a watt and power, we're capable of being able to. to detect it. And that's not just in the terrestrial environment, but also aerial and in space. So when we talk about things like blockades on Venezuela and ships that go dark and turn off their transponders, are you collecting data on those ships? Well, part of our value proposition is

being able to detect dark vessels. These are vessels that normally have their AIS signal on, but have turned it off for whatever reason. Oftentimes they turn it off for illicit purposes that they don't want to be tracked. And so when they do so, they're still emitting signals, oftentimes X-Ban or S-Bam radars or push-a-talk radio systems or other beacons within that vessel. And we're able to uniquely identify them, associate them with a Hawkeye identifier,

maintain chain of custody of those vessels, and then track them into perpetuity and start to extract intelligence about what they're doing. That occurs all over the world. It occurs in places like the Caribbean, but it also occurs in the Arabian Gulf and the South China Sea everywhere there's ocean. I mean, given the fact that you, it's almost like nowhere to hide is kind of how I think about it, especially with all these types of capabilities that are coming not just from Earth and from,

you know, from aerial aspects, but also from space as the technology becomes, you know, better and better. What are you seeing in terms of that type of activity versus years past? Yeah, so it's not just one modality that works for customers. It's multiple different on-orbit intelligence phenomenologies working in concert with one another. So you can imagine that you could have electro-optical or synthetic aperture radar imagery satellites that are collecting images. They're taking pictures. Now, they could be tasked by Hawkeye data.

So Hawkeye can be in front identifying anomalous RF activity associated with the dark vessel, for example, or a GPS L1 or L2 jammer. and we can then send that information over to an imager satellite to take an image, and then you're pulling together multiple different intelligence modalities to create what's referred to as a multi-end product. So is this what's actually happening in places like the Caribbean right now? Are you involved in some of these missions, or your data, I should say? We take it as a point never to talk about our customers,

but around the world we are tipping other systems and being able to combine RF data with imagery and open source, intelligence modalities to be able to create turnkey intelligence products that customers can use to make the best decisions possible. Now, I find myself having a number of conversations this year about, you know, Earth imaging, earth observation, how we seem to be moving into an era that maybe is akin to what we saw with GPS years ago. How do you see this moment for this type of technology and capability? Well, I tend to think that from a military or intelligence perspective, there's really three

major functionalities in space. You can communicate, you can take images, and you can analyze signals. The first two have long since been commercialized. Communications going back 30 years with great companies like IntelSat and radium, etc. Electro-optical imagery more recently, companies like Digital Globe, then Maxar, Planet, Black Sky, it's become fairly commoditized from a commercial perspective, but signals. Signals has hitherto for always been the domain of the defense industrial base and advanced governments building very exquisite systems.

Hawkeye is the first to build these RF sensing satellites for smaller dollars in low Earth orbit on the commercial side where they're owned and operated by private companies. So what does that mean in terms of the path forward for Hawkeye, especially as you just did this acquisition. You also just had a Series E funding round that you closed as well. So what does the future hold? Well, we're delighted to invite or to thank Center 15, which co-led the series E round alongside existing investor Night Dragon for $100 million in the series E round. And then we've tacked on an additional amount of debt supported by SVB and Hercules. So thank you to those phenomenal lenders and inequity investors, that capital allows us in part to acquire this amazing

company, ISA. And together, the capital and this acquisition allows us to execute against our strategy, which is to dominate the collection of RF data from geo all the way down to the ground, to include terrestrial and aerial sensors, and to be the very best in the world at converting that RF data from lots of different sensors into highly processed and analyzed intelligence products our customers can consume to make the best decisions possible. As an IPO on the cards? I guess I'd say no comment. It's been an interesting year for commercial space and space tech IPOs,

and certainly there's a lot of expectation that we see more next year. I mean, the biggest perhaps being, and perhaps the biggest in the world period in terms of initial public offering being SpaceX. I wonder how you see that potential milestone. Well, I think certainly space tech is a, it's a, It's a good place to be right now. AST, Rocket Lab, Planet are all trading very nicely.

Some of that might be a pull through on the expected economics of a SpaceX IPO, but that's exciting. I would say that space is one part of our DNA. We're ultimately a defense technology company that produces the highest quality signals intelligence intelligence intelligence and the decision maker. That's our core DNA, and there really aren't very many comps that look just like Hawkeye-360. who are your competitors then yeah we don't have many i think when you when you take a step back and you look at what hawkeyes done we were the first to do commercial signals intelligence i think that we deserve to be an industry of one and the head start that we've developed

with over 30 satellites on orbit an exquisite processing platform and all the customers that we've built a deep relationship based on trust and um an appreciation for our capabilities over the past decade, we really don't see anyone behind us. And we're striving forward to be the best that we can. We've seen a lot of policy shifts this year when you talk about defense tech or even, you know, space, whether it's a sweeping executive order tied to all things space just a couple of days ago. Some of the changes to acquisition and procurement models on, you know, the broader defense side. How do you see all of this evolving? And what does it mean for a company such as yours.

Well, Morgan, as you know, I've been a defense technology investor and company builder for two decades, and I would say unequivocally that this is the best time in which to be trying to commercialize defense technologies. I would say that this is a golden age for defense technology. The changes in the administration towards policies associated with commercial tech, as well as the expansion of budgets and some of the new initiatives that are out there, it's a phenomenal opportunity for us to be able to deliver commercial technology, greater speed, greater innovation, and agility, and much more cost-effective for the American taxpayer. So it's a win-win all around.

How are you approaching AI? So we use AI machine learning all the time in the development of our processing capabilities. It allows us to be able to detect new signals and develop the waveforms such that we can identify them automatically in the future, as well as to be able to classify those different types of signals and analyze them and extract intelligence about what they're doing. When you're collecting RF data overhead, you start to build patterns of life of certain types of assets and emitters, and that can allow you over time to be able to extract intelligence about activities, and ultimately, if you do it for long enough, human intentions. What are some of the surprising

patterns or dynamics that you've seen with that data when it comes to human intentions? I think one of the, we do a lot in the maritime environment, and that's been helpful to be able to track dark vessels and see when they encroach upon other countries' sovereign territories. But you can also take that towards detecting anomalous behavior associated with upcoming missile launches. If you look at a known missile launch area and you start to detect deviations from the norm, you can then associate that with upcoming missile launches. launches and generate early warnings and indications that are extremely valuable to customers. Sounds like Golden Dome's a big opportunity for you.

Well, we try not to talk about the different initiatives that we're working on or our customers, but I think that it's going to be a major opportunity for all of America and our allies. So looking to 2026 and beyond, I guess what are the big trends, what are the big dynamics, whether it's for Hawkeye specifically or for the industry, for global defense spending, et cetera, that you're watching and expecting. Well, we do have this phenomenal opportunity here as a defense tech industry to prove that with Silicon Valley type ethos and commercial intellectual property and private capital, that we can build and deliver functionality that will be for the betterment of the warfighter

and the intelligence analyst. This is our opportunity here in 2026 that we've been working towards for years, not just Hawkeye 360, but all the companies like us in the defense tech ecosystem. And let's see if we can deliver the type of functionality that can really turn the needle for the barement of the warfighter. It does feel like we're hitting a tipping point here. John Seraphina of Hawkeye 360, great to speak with you. Thank you.

Thank you. That does it for this episode of Manifest Space. Make sure you never miss a launch by following us wherever you get your podcasts. And by watching our coverage on Closing Bell overtime. I'm Morgan Brennan. Thank you.