Aetherflux, a startup focused on space-based energy technologies, was founded by Baiju Bhatt, the billionaire co-founder of Robinhood. The company has announced that it has raised $50 million in Series A funding to conduct its first demo mission in low Earth orbit (LEO) in 2026.
The main goal of Aetherflux is to prove the viability of its technology. To achieve this, the company plans to launch its first satellite into orbit. Bhatt stated, "Our goal is to prove that harvesting energy from space is possible for humanity, and that this will be the first time it has ever been done."
To achieve this goal, Aetherflux will utilize the new financial backing it has secured. With this investment, the company's total funding will reach $60 million. Bhatt has contributed $10 million of his personal funds to the investment. The Series A round was led by Index Ventures and Interlagos, with notable investors such as Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and NEA also providing financial support. Famous actor Jared Leto is also among the investors.
Bhatt noted that with this new investment, Aetherflux plans to hire more engineers and focus on the necessary technology and infrastructure for its initial missions. "Our team is currently preparing payloads that will be placed on the satellite's upper section, which will convert the satellite’s energy into laser energy," Bhatt explained.
Aetherflux will use Apex Space's Aries satellite bus for its satellite system. The satellite bus is a crucial system that provides the main structure and functions of the satellite, including power, movement, and communication. According to Bhatt, the energy obtained from these buses—1 kilowatt of power—will be transmitted to Earth via laser.
On Earth, Aetherflux's "ground stations" will be equipped with photovoltaic panels that will convert sunlight into energy and store it in batteries. Bhatt mentioned that the company’s team includes engineers and researchers from prestigious organizations such as NASA, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Anduril, and the U.S. Navy. The company has already begun building its first ground station. Although the location of the station has not been decided, the company is evaluating military areas with controlled airspace.
According to Bhatt, the goal is to create small and portable ground stations that can provide electricity even to the most remote areas. "The key issue we want to demonstrate in our first mission is that energy transfer works from start to finish," Bhatt emphasized. "We would like to send energy to Earth and use it for lighting or powering other electronic devices."
Very few successful missions have been carried out in the field of solar energy transmission from space. In 2023, the Caltech Space Solar Power Project demonstrated energy transmission using microwave radiation, but the scalable and commercial system proposed by Aetherflux is further ahead of this idea.
Aetherflux's fundraising follows a grant awarded to the company by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund, which aims to support the development of space-based solar energy for the U.S. military.
