TDK Ventures is leading the $5 million Series A investment round for space technology startup Ethereal Exploration Guild. YourNest VC, Bluehill Capital, BIG Capital, Campus Fund, and Golden Sparrow VC are among the current investors in Ethereal Exploration Guild.
Key Highlights
- Ethereal Exploration Guild raised $5 Mn in Series A funding to scale advanced spacetech solutions.
- Funding will support technology development, talent expansion, and future space mission capabilities.
In August 2024, BIG Global Investments JSC, BlueHill Capital, Campus Fund, Golden Sparrow Ventures, Karan Bhagat & Yatin Shah from IIFL Wealth, Kiran Shetty, and Akhilesh Agarwal participated in the startup's $5 million seed round, which was headed by YourNest.
According to a news statement from Ethereal Exploration Guild, the money raised will be utilized to create the Razor Crest Mk-1, the first totally reusable medium-lift launch vehicle.
Manu J. Nair, Shubhayu Sardar, and Prashanth Sharma co-founded EtherealX in 2022 with the goal of competing with SpaceX using the Razor Crest Mk-1, a medium-lift launch vehicle. The completely reusable rocket will be able to deliver payloads to geostationary transfer and trans-lunar injection orbits in addition to carrying up to eight tonnes into low Earth orbit.
The Bengaluru-based business claims to be developing a totally reusable medium-lift (25-ton) launch vehicle and to have completed the construction of the two engines that will power the vehicle's two stages in less than 3.5 years. This strategy lowers expenses and improves launch efficiency. Up to 24.8 tons can be carried into Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) and up to 10.8 tons into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) by the Razor Crest Mk-1, a medium-lift totally reusable launch vehicle currently in development.
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By reducing orbital transport costs to a goal range of $500–$1,000 per kilogram and developing a reusable upper-stage that makes use of a patented rocket engine feed cycle known as the Full Flow Segregated Cooling Cycle (FFSCC), Ethereal hopes to upend the launch market. The startup makes use of internal test infrastructure and simulation technologies, which combined improve overall vehicle reusability and shorten development cycles.
The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), ISRO, and other national space agencies, as well as commercial satellite operators, launch aggregators, and launch ports worldwide, have all signed collaboration agreements with the company, which claims to have produced its 80kN upper-stage reusable engine (Pegasus).
