Indian Space Startup EtherealX Rockets to $80.5M Valuation Ahead of Engine Tests

Ethereal Exploration Guild, better known as EtherealX, an emerging Indian space technology startup, has seen its valuation soar 5.5x to $80.5 million following its latest funding round. The Bengaluru-based company is developing a fully reusable launch vehicle and is preparing for engine hot-fire tests ahead of its first technology demonstration flight, currently scheduled for 2027.

Oversubscribed Series A Round

The startup announced it closed an oversubscribed $20.5 million Series A, led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital, with participation from Accel, Prosus, YourNest, BlueHill, Campus Fund, and Riceberg Ventures, as reported by TechCrunch. This follows a $5 million seed round in August 2024, which valued EtherealX at $14.6 million.

India’s Growing Space Economy

India is actively expanding its space ecosystem, targeting growth in its space economy from $8 billion to $45 billion over the next decade. Startups like EtherealX are attracting attention as the country looks beyond small launchers and component contracts to larger-scale capabilities.

Global satellite operators are increasingly seeking more launch options and flexible schedules, particularly as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 sets industry benchmarks for cost and cadence. EtherealX aims to fill this market gap with a fully reusable vehicle capable of returning both the booster and the upper stage, potentially reducing launch costs and increasing flight frequency without relying on a constant payload pipeline.

Engine Development and Testing

EtherealX is developing two engines in-house:

• Pegasus – an 80-kilonewton upper-stage engine

• Stallion – a 1.2-meganewton booster engine

Hot-fire tests for both engines are targeted for June–July 2026. As CEO Manu J. Nair explained, “Thrust, measured in kilonewtons and meganewtons, indicates how much lifting force an engine can generate.”

The Pegasus engine delivers 323 seconds of vacuum-specific impulse, using a proprietary “full-flow segregated cooling cycle” and an additively manufactured in-house turbopump. The Stallion engine employs a gas-generator cycle and produces 306 seconds of sea-level specific impulse.

EtherealX plans to cluster engines on its main medium-lift vehicle, the Razor Crest Mk-1, with nine Stallion engines on the booster and 15 Pegasus engines on the upper stage. By contrast, SpaceX primarily reuses its first-stage booster while expending the upper stage; EtherealX aims for full-stage reusability.

Vehicle Capabilities and Pricing

The Razor Crest Mk-1 is designed to carry:

• 24.8 tonnes in expendable configuration

• 22.8 tonnes partially reusable

• 8 tonnes fully reusable

EtherealX anticipates pricing between $350 and $2,000 per kilogram, depending on configuration and launch cadence, Nair said.

Infrastructure Expansion

To support development, EtherealX operates a rocket engine test site in Tamil Nadu, known as Base 001, focused on upper-stage engine qualification. Additionally, the company has secured a 150-acre manufacturing and testing campus in Andhra Pradesh’s proposed space city, expected to be operational by mid-2026, enabling integrated engine and stage testing.

Early Commercial Commitments

EtherealX has signed launch MOUs worth around $130 million with customers including Japan’s SpaceBD and Taiwan’s space agency, TASA, signaling early commercial demand ahead of its first demonstration flight.

The new funding will be used to complete flight qualification of the Stallion booster engine and conduct clustered-firing tests of Pegasus upper-stage engines. The startup currently employs 67 people and expects to expand to 90 employees in the coming months as manufacturing and testing scale up in preparation for its demonstration flight.

Author: Din Kumar