Funding Alert

EtherealX Raises First Institutional Funding for Spacetech Innovation

• ByStartupStory     |    February 5, 2024

Spacetech startup EtherealX has secured its first institutional funding from Campus Fund, BlueHill Capital, and Riceberg Ventures.

The funding will be utilized for EtherealX’s 40 kilonewton, a privately developed semi-cryogenic rocket engine, as reported by Economic Times.

Founded in 2022 by Shubhayu Sardar, Manu Nair, and Prashanth Sharma, EtherealX aims to develop reusable rockets that bring both stages of the rocket back to Earth after flight. Currently, SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, is the only major rocket maker commercially operating orbital launches using reusable rockets, particularly in the medium-lift and heavy-lift category.

One of EtherealX’s key projects is the Razor Crest Mk-1, designed to be the world’s first fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The model is capable of dispatching payloads of up to 24.8 tonnes to the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) in an expendable configuration, 22.8 tonnes in a partially reusable configuration, and 8 tonnes in a fully reusable configuration to 400 kilometers LEO.

Last month, Campus Fund announced its second fund of Rs 75 crore (approximately $9 million), which was oversubscribed by 37%.

In recent years, several spacetech startups such as Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroot Aerospace, Pixxel, Bellatrix, GlaxEye, Dhruva, Vesta Space, Digantara, and InspeCity have successfully raised significant funding, highlighting the growing interest and investment in the spacetech sector.

Follow Startup Story