Spacetech startup EtherealX raises first funding round

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

The proceeds will be used for the startup’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 is attempting to build reusable rockets that bring both the stages of the rocket back into earth after flight. Currently, Elon Musk's SpaceX is the only major rocket maker that commercially operates orbital launches using reusable rockets, particularly in the medium-lift and heavy-lift category.

Among the startup’s plans is Razor Crest Mk-1, aimed to be the world’s first fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The model is designed to dispatch payloads of up to 24.8 tonnes to the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) in expendable configuration, 22.8 tonnes in partially reusable configuration, and 8 tonnes in fully reusable configuration to 400 kilometres LEO.

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

Over the past few years, several spacetech startups such as Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroot Aerospace, Pixxel, Bellatrix, GalaxEye, Dhruva, Vesta Space, Digantara and InspeCity have managed to raise decent funding.