rewrite this title Space solar startup Aetherflux raises $50M to launch first space demo in 2026 | TechCrunch

Aetherflux, the space solar startup founded by Baiju Bhatt, the billionaire co-founder of Robinhood, has raised $50 million in a Series A round as it works to launch its first low Earth orbit demonstration in 2026. 

The San Carlos, California-based startup, which came out of stealth last October, aims to eventually launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that can collect and transmit solar energy directly to “ground stations” on Earth. It’s an idea that was initially triggered by Isaac Asimov’s 1941 short story “Reason.” Bhatt is focused on turning this science fiction-inspired concept into reality.

But first, Aetherflux needs to get a satellite to orbit to prove 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, told TechCrunch. 

At least, that’s the goal with next year’s launch, which will be supported by the fresh capital Aetherflux has raised. The round brings Aetherflux’s total funding to $60 million after Bhatt invested $10 million of his own funds into the company. The Series A round was led by Index Ventures and Interlagos, with participation from Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and NEA, as well as some other interesting names like Jared Leto rounding it out. 

Bhatt, who joined us on the TechCrunch Equity podcast earlier this year, told TechCrunch that Aetherflux will use the funds to hire more engineers and invest in the technology and infrastructure needed for its first several 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 said. 

Aetherflux is using Apex Space’s Aries satellite bus. A satellite bus is the core structure and system of a satellite that provides essential functions for its operation, like power, propulsion, and communications. Most buses generate power through solar panels, and Bhatt says that power — as much as a kilowatt of energy — will be sent back to Earth via lasers.

On the receiving end will be Aetherflux’s “ground stations,” made up of photovoltaic arrays that convert sunlight to energy that is stored in batteries for later use. Bhatt said his team, which is made up of engineers and researchers from NASA, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Anduril, and the U.S. Navy, is also working on building out Aetherflux’s first ground station. The startup doesn’t have a location for the station yet, but it’s evaluating military sites where there’s more controlled air space. 

In the future, Bhatt says the goal is to build small, portable ground stations — anywhere from 5 to 10 meters in diameter — to bring electricity to even the most remote locations. 

“The thing we want to demonstrate [with the first mission] is the end-to-end power linking,” Bhatt said. “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 accomplished the feat of sending solar power from space to Earth. One of the only successful missions was in 2023 when researchers at Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project demonstrated wireless power transfer from low Earth orbit using microwave beaming. That proved the concept but falls short of Aetherflux’s pitch for a scalable, commercial system. 

Aetherflux’s raise comes off the back of an award from the Department of Defense’s Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund to develop space solar power for the U.S. military.