AQWEST, LLC

Larkspur, CO · Defense · Private

Hardware add-on module that protects satellites from directed energy threats

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Updated Oct 23, 2026 · aqwest.com

Sector: Defense
Headquarters: Larkspur, CO
Total capital: $24.6M

Federal grants: $12.4M; 20 awards · 2015–2025; Rank in peer group#29 of 164
Private capital raised: None on recordNo Form D filings on SEC EDGAR. Some raises are not filed.
Federal contracts: $12.2M; 20 awards · Defense, NASA; Rank in Defense#359 of 1442
Granted patents: 0; 2 pending

Capital timeline

Latest events

Aug 2025Federal contractDefense · SBIR II: High Energy, Multi-component, Optical Isolator For 2 Micron Fiber Lasers$1.8M
Aug 2025Federal grantDefense · Phase II · SBIR II: High Energy, Multi-component, Optical Isolator For 2 Micron Fiber Lasers$1.8M
Dec 2024Federal contractDefense · STTR I: Ghz Burt Mode Ultrashort Pulse Laser$179K
May 2024Federal grantDefense · Phase II · SBIR Phase II.$1.0M
May 2024Federal contractDefense · SBIR Phase II.$1.0M
Apr 2024Federal grantDefense · Phase I · To Develop Innovative Fiber-coupled Isolators (fci) That Can Handle High-average And Peak Powers In 2 M Pulsed Fiber Amplifiers Now Being Developed By The U.S. Air Force (USAF) As A Part Of An All-fiber Pulsed Laser System.$180K
Apr 2024Federal contractDefense · To Develop Innovative Fiber-coupled Isolators (fci) That Can Handle High-average And Peak Powers In 2 M Pulsed Fiber Amplifiers Now Being Developed By The U.S. Air Force (USAF) As A Part Of An All-fiber Pulsed Laser System.$180K

Show 32 earlier federal awards

Apr 2024Federal grantDefense · Phase II · Research And Development 873AUTHORITY$1.3M
Apr 2024Federal contractDefense · Research And Development 873AUTHORITY$3M
May 2023Federal contractDefense · Kick-off Briefing Materials & Fwa Cert.$240K
Apr 2023Federal grantEnergy · Phase II · Wavelength Tunable Visible Picosecond Laser$1.1M
Dec 2022Federal grantDefense · Phase I · Satellite Shielding Against Directed Energy Threats$150K
Feb 2022Federal grantEnergy · Phase I · Wavelength-Tunable Visible Picosecond Laser$200K
Sep 2020Federal contractDefense · Base Effort - SR1PHASE I$111K
Sep 2020Federal contractDefense · SBIR Phase II$1.7M
Aug 2020Federal grantNASA · Phase I · Compact and Efficient High-Pulse Energy 2-Micron Lidar Transmitter$125K
Aug 2020Federal grantEnergy · Phase II · High-Pulse Energy / High-Repetition Rate Laser$1.1M
Aug 2019Federal grantEnergy · Phase II · Front End for Advanced Laser Driver for ICF Driver$1.1M
Jul 2019Federal contractDefense · Research And Development SBIR Ph 2$1.1M
Jul 2019Federal grantEnergy · Phase I · High-Pulse Energy High-Repetition Rate Laser$200K
Jul 2019Federal grantEnergy · Phase I · Thulium-Based Ceramic Amplifier for Laser Acceleration$200K
Apr 2019Federal contractDefense · Reports - Cdrl A002$225K
Feb 2019Federal grantEnergy · Phase I · Advanced Magnetic Air Separation Technology$150K
Aug 2018Federal grantEnergy · Phase II · Efficient 2-Micron Laser Driver for Laser Acceleration$300K
Jul 2018Federal grantEnergy · Phase I · Integrated Large UFL Model Suite$150K
Jul 2017Federal grantEnergy · Phase II · Front End for Advanced Laser Driver for Inertial Fusion Energy$1.0M
Aug 2016Federal grantEnergy · Phase II · Efficient 2Micron Laser Driver for Laser Acceleration$1.0M
Jun 2016Federal grantEnergy · Phase I · Front End for Advanced Laser Driver for Inertial Fusion Energy$150K
Jun 2016Federal contractNASA · Igf::ot::igf Aqwest Proposes To Develop A Novel, Compact And Rugged High-peak Power Erbium (er) Laser Amplifier At 1.5 ?m To For NASA Remote Sensing Trasmitter. The Project Will Take Advantage Our Novel And Highly Successful Edge-pumped Disk Laser (epdl) Multi-passed Amplifier We Are Developing For The US Army, Navy, And The Department Of Energy (DOE) Applications. In Phase I, We Will Use Our Existing Suite Of Models To Determine The Feasibility Of A 1.5-?M Epdl-based Laser Amplifier And Identi$124K
Jul 2015Federal grantEnergy · Phase II · Advanced Laser Driver for Inertial Fusion Energy$1.0M
Jun 2015Federal grantEnergy · Phase I · Efficient 2-Micron Laser Driver for Laser Acceleration$150K
Jan 2014Federal contractDefense · Igf::ot::igf SBIR Phase I: Topic #OSD13-EP1$150K
Jun 2012Federal contractDefense · Status Report$80K
Apr 2010Federal contractDefense · Mda SBIR Phase 1$100K
Apr 2010Federal contractDefense · SBIR II Ffp -- Advanced Electronic Cooling$708K
Sep 2009Federal contractDefense · SBIR Phase II$1.2M
Feb 2009Federal contractDefense · Advanced Electronic Cooling Technologies$100K
Oct 2008Federal contractDefense · SBIR Phase I$120K
Jan 2008Federal contractDefense · High Capacity, Lightweight, And Compact Thermal Energy Storage (tes) Technologies And Systems$100K

Node area is scaled to amount. Form D reports securities sold, which can differ from an announced round; filings are numbered in the order they were made.

1 record has no date or no amount, so it isn’t placed on the timeline.

Standing among 164 peers

Line = median

Defense · Device

Federal grants#29 · top 18%

Cumulative measures favor older companies. Rankings describe position today, not outcome. Below the median, ranks show as a band rather than a number.

Founders and team

No founders are linked to this company yet.

Founders appear once a person is matched to the company through its own patents, grants or filings. We never infer people from social profiles.

Checked: USPTO inventors; federal award principal investigators; SEC Form D related persons · Oct 23, 2026

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What it has protected

USPTO · 0 granted of 2

Oct 9, 2025PendingOptical Isolator For High Average Power And High Pulse Energy LasersUSPTOApplication 18831282
Aug 21, 2025PendingWavelength-tunable Laser For High-average PowerUSPTOApplication 19049509

MICROWAVE APPLICATIONS GROUPSimilar federal contract value in Defense · $12.5M in contracts
REMOTE SENSING SOLUTIONS, INC.Similar federal contract value in Defense · $12.5M in contracts
Nlign Analytics, Inc.Similar federal contract value in Defense · $12.4M in contracts
TRUSTED SPACE INCSimilar federal contract value in Defense · $12.2M in contracts
PROSENSING INC.Similar federal contract value in Defense · $12.1M in contracts
ZKXKZ LLCSimilar federal contract value in Defense · $12.1M in contracts

Regulatory activity · Defense

Sector-level, not company-level

11 Jun 2026Danger Zone; Waters of Carr Creek and Whitehall Bay in the Vicinity of the Naval Support Activity AnnapolisEngineers Corps
13 Mar 2026Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2026-01; IntroductionNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
13 Mar 2026Federal Acquisition Regulation: Trade Agreements ThresholdsNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
13 Mar 2026Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2026-01; Small Entity Compliance GuideNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
27 Aug 2025Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2025-06; Small Entity Compliance GuideNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
27 Aug 2025Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2025-06; IntroductionNational Aeronautics and Space Administration

Rules are matched to sector, not to company. Recent activity in a sector is context rather than a signal about this business — until rules are matched to what a company actually builds, the section is shown as context and nothing more.

Sources

Federal grants from SBIR/STTR, NIH, NSF and DoD records. Federal contracts from USAspending.gov. Private capital from SEC Form D. Patents from USPTO. Publications from OpenAlex. Regulatory activity from the Federal Register. Press matched on company name.

How to read this page

Figures show associations in public records, not causes or predictions. Nothing here is investment advice. An em-dash means no record was found under this company's name, not that none exists.

Data freshness

SEC Form D filings through Oct 23, 2026. SBIR and STTR awards through Oct 21, 2026.