Aetherflux, the house photo voltaic startup based by Baiju Bhatt, the billionaire co-founder of Robinhood, has raised $50 million in a Series A spherical as it really works to launch its first low Earth orbit demonstration in 2026.
The San Carlos, California-based startup, which got here out of stealth final October, goals to finally launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that may acquire and transmit photo voltaic vitality on to “ground stations” on Earth. It’s an concept that was initially triggered by Isaac Asimov’s 1941 brief story “Reason.” Bhatt is concentrated on turning this science fiction-inspired idea into actuality.
But first, Aetherflux must get a satellite tv for pc to orbit to show out the tech, to “demonstrate that we have made this transformative progress of going from humans not having power from space to, for the very first time, there being power from space for humans,” Bhatt, the startup’s founder and CEO, instructed TechCrunch.
At least, that’s the objective with subsequent yr’s launch, which might be supported by the contemporary capital Aetherflux has raised. The spherical brings Aetherflux’s whole funding to $60 million after Bhatt invested $10 million of his personal funds into the corporate. The Series A spherical was led by Index Ventures and Interlagos, with participation from Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and NEA, in addition to another attention-grabbing names like Jared Leto rounding it out.
Bhatt, who joined us on the TechCrunch Equity podcast earlier this yr, instructed TechCrunch that Aetherflux will use the funds to rent extra engineers and spend money on the expertise and infrastructure wanted for its first a number of missions.
“Our team is primarily focused right now on building the payload that sits on top of the bus … that takes all the power that the satellite bus generates and turns it into laser power,” Bhatt mentioned.
Aetherflux is utilizing Apex Space’s Aries satellite tv for pc bus. A satellite tv for pc bus is the core construction and system of a satellite tv for pc that gives important features for its operation, like energy, propulsion, and communications. Most buses generate energy by way of photo voltaic panels, and Bhatt says that energy — as a lot as a kilowatt of vitality — might be despatched again to Earth through lasers.
On the receiving finish might be Aetherflux’s “ground stations,” made up of photovoltaic arrays that convert daylight to vitality that’s saved in batteries for later use. Bhatt mentioned his group, which is made up of engineers and researchers from NASA, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Anduril, and the U.S. Navy, can be engaged on constructing out Aetherflux’s first floor station. The startup doesn’t have a location for the station but, however it’s evaluating army websites the place there’s extra managed air house.
In the longer term, Bhatt says the objective is to construct small, moveable floor stations — wherever from 5 to 10 meters in diameter — to convey electrical energy to even probably the most distant areas.
“The thing we want to demonstrate [with the first mission] is the end-to-end power linking,” Bhatt mentioned. “We want to be able to demonstrate that we actually have electricity on the ground and use that to light up a light installation or do some electronic stuff on the ground.”
Few have achieved the feat of sending solar energy from house to Earth. One of the one profitable missions was in 2023 when researchers at Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project demonstrated wi-fi energy switch from low Earth orbit utilizing microwave beaming. That proved the idea however falls in need of Aetherflux’s pitch for a scalable, industrial system.
Aetherflux’s increase comes off the again of an award from the Department of Defense’s Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund to develop house solar energy for the U.S. army.
