December 23, 2022
The need for aerospace solutions is growing as the world ventures into new realms of space and advances in aviation technology.
The aerospace industry is growing rapidly, with the global market value projected to reach $430.87 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 7%.
As the demand for aerospace technology and space exploration increases, it's worth keeping an eye on the following 16 startups in 2023.
All of the companies listed received venture capital funding in 2022, indicating that they could influence our future much more than we realize today.
Headquarters: Cedar Park, Texas, United States
Founders: Eric Salwan, Maureen Gannon, Max Polyakov, Michael Blum, PJ King, Thomas Markusic
Year founded: 2014
Latest funding: $75,000,000 (Series B)
Total funding: $271,557,023
What they do: Firefly Aerospace engages in providing economical and convenient access to space for small payloads through the design, manufacture, and operation of reliable launch vehicles. The Firefly team addresses the market's need for flexible access to space with a “simplest/soonest” approach to technology selection. Firefly launch vehicles embody the insights of a diverse design team and leverage commercial off–the–shelf (COTS) components, manufactured by suppliers across the United States, to reduce risk, maximize reliability and minimize development time.
Headquarters: South Burlington, Vermont, United States
Founders: Kyle Clark
Year founded: 2017
Latest funding: $375,000,000 (Series B)
Total funding: $886,000,000
What they do: Beta Technologies designs and develops electric aircraft including advanced flight control and electric propulsion systems, with a focus on clean aviation technology. Beta designs a self-sufficient eVTOL aircraft ecosystem that satisfies the needs of humans, embraces the laws of nature, and works in harmony with the planet. Beta Technologies simplifies and amplifies access to the vertical dimension of mobility.
Headquarters: Irvine, California, United States
Founders: Brian Schimpf, Joseph Chen, Matt Grimm, Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens
Year founded: 2017
Latest funding: $1,500,000,000 (Series E)
Total funding: $2,191,000,000
What they do: Anduril Industries is a defense product company that builds technology for military agencies and border surveillance. Anduril commits top technical talent to solving the most complex national security challenges. The company is building the next generation of technology that will aid and protect those who serve on the front lines defending the nation and its interests.
Headquarters: Hollister, California, United States
Founders: Val Miftakhov
Year founded: 2017
Latest funding: $30,000,000 (Series B)
Total funding: $140,000,000
What they do: ZeroAvia is a British and American aviation company founded in 2017 by Val Miftakhov. ZeroAvia developed a vision to serve as a responsible steward of the environment by bringing hydrogen-powered aircraft to the market. The hydrogen-electric powertrain technology vastly reduces carbon emissions and reduces noise, all while lowering fuel and maintenance costs for airlines. For ZeroAvia's promising HyFlyer I project, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) delivered the fueling systems necessary for test flights as well as infrastructure designed for airports.
Headquarters: Long Beach, California, United States
Founders: Jonathan Yaney
Year founded: 2014
Latest funding: $71,000,000 (Series B)
Total funding: $146,000,000
What they do: SpinLaunch is a stealth space catapult startup that aims to create a much cheaper and sustainable way to get things like satellites from earth into space without chemical propellant. SpinLaunch plans to use a centrifuge spinning at an incredible rate inside a vacuum that reduces friction. All that momentum is then harnessed to catapult a payload into space at speeds one source said could be around 3000 miles per hour. With enough momentum, objects could be flung into space on their own. Alternatively, the catapult could provide some of the power needed with cargo being equipped with supplemental rockets necessary to leave the earth’s atmosphere.
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Founders: Payam Banazadeh, Uri Tintore, Will Woods
Year founded: 2016
Latest funding: $97,000,000 (Series C)
Total funding: $178,969,988
What they do: Capella Space is an information services company that provides on-demand 50cm high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Earth observation imagery. Through a constellation of small satellites, Capella provides easy access to frequent, timely and flexible information affecting dozens of industries worldwide. Capella's high-resolution SAR satellites are matched with unparalleled infrastructure to deliver reliable global insights that sharpen our understanding of the changing world – improving decisions about commerce, conservation and security on Earth.
Headquarters: Austin, Texas, United States
Founders: David Godwin, Melanie Stricklan, Thomas Ashman
Year founded: 2017
Latest funding: $40,850,000 (Series A)
Total funding: $110,520,000
What they do: Slingshot Aerospace builds world-class space simulation and analytics solutions. We are driven by our vision of accelerating space sustainability to create a safer, more connected world. Space is increasingly complex due to the exponential growth of global launch activity, the proliferation of new data sources, and the ever-growing body of new satellites and debris. Organizations are making mission-critical decisions in this high-risk environment and they need the right information at the right time. Slingshot Aerospace empowers government and commercial space organizations to better design, manage, and safeguard their assets, as well as mitigate risks, to ensure safe and reliable operations for all space-faring users.
Headquarters: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Founders: Naga Bharath Daka, Pawan Kumar Chandana
Year founded: 2018
Latest funding: $51,000,000 (Series B)
Total funding: $68,063,167
What they do: Skyroot Aerospace is an aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider developing launch vehicles for cost-effective access to space. Skyroot builds technologies for responsive, reliable, and economic access to space. They envision a future where spaceflight is as regular, reliable, and affordable as air flight.
Headquarters: Docklands, Victoria, Australia
Founders: Eric Peck, Joshua Tepper
Year founded: 2017
Latest funding: $10,000,000 (Series B)
Total funding: $27,500,000
What they do: Swoop Aero is an Australian drone-powered logistics company founded in 2017 to transform how the world moves by making access to the skies seamless. The aerospace startup integrates drone logistics into the first and last mile of the supply chain to transform its strength and agility. Where they don’t deliver that service themselves, the company provides their technology platform selectively to organisations across the globe to further the reach of their impact.
Headquarters: London, England, United Kingdom
Founders: Parikshat Singh
Year founded: 2016
Latest funding: $8,500,000 (Seed)
Total funding: $8,500,000
What they do: Flow is the first engineering data platform built for agile engineering teams. Flow helps teams stay integrated with the correct data, regardless of which tool they are working in.
Headquarters: Hawthorne, California, United States
Founders: Bo Marr, Grant L. Verstandig, Joe Lonsdale, John Tenet, Max Mednik, Nathan Mintz
Year founded: 2018
Latest funding: $200,000,000 (Series C)
Total funding: $287,631,878
What they do: Epirus is a high-growth technology company developing solid-state, software-defined directed energy systems that enable unprecedented counter-electronics effects and power management solutions to optimize power efficiency in defense and commercial applications. With a constant emphasis on innovation, they are redefining the future of power to bring tomorrow’s capabilities to life, today.
Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States
Founders: Colin Doughan
Year founded: 2021
Latest funding: $20,000,000 (Seed)
Total funding: $20,000,000
What they do: Gravitics is an aerospace company that designs and manufactures large space structures for human life in space.
Headquarters: Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Founders: Fabian Riesen
Year founded: 2016
Latest funding: $20,000,000 (Series A)
Total funding: $29,265,093
What they do: Loft Dynamics is a training solutions provider that creates a virtual reality (VR) flight simulator. It was the first VR full motion simulator to receive Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD) EASA FTD Level 3 authorization from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Loft Dynamics, with a talented team of passionate engineers, highly specialized developers, and dedicated aviation experts, assists leading global aircraft manufacturers, airlines, aviation operators, flight schools, and training organizations around the world in providing safer and more effective pilot training. It was formerly known as VRMotion AG, which was founded in Zurich in 2018 and has quickly established itself as the market leader in the development and manufacture of virtual reality training devices for helicopter pilots.
Headquarters: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore
Founders: Jasper Yap, Jun An Tan, Logan Tan, Terrence Goh
Year founded: 2016
Latest funding: $6,200,000 (Series A)
Total funding: $13,700,000
What they do: Eezee is a business supplies marketplace that integrates to their customers’ ERP via punchout, Enterprises can get connected with a network of accredited suppliers in Southeast Asia on our eCommerce platform. Long gone are the days of having to make multiple calls just to find the product you need.
Headquarters: London, England, United Kingdom
Founders: Charles Black
Year founded: 2014
Latest funding: $2,432,240 (Seed)
Total funding: $6,353,417
What they do: Sen's vision is to democratize space using video to inform, educate, inspire and benefit all humanity. Sen's mission is to stream real-time videos from space to billions of people, gathering news and information about Earth and space and making it universally accessible.
Headquarters: Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Founders: James Powell
Year founded: 2017
Latest funding: $19,972,899 (Series A)
Total funding: $25,878,836
What they do: Based in New Zealand and the Netherlands, Dawn Aerospace is building same-day reusable launch vehicles and non-toxic satellite propulsion systems. Same-day Reusable Launch Vehicles that do not require specialised space-launch infrastructure, integrate with everyday aircraft in nearby airspace and launch as often and routinely as commercial aviation. Non-toxic high performance propulsion systems for satellites of all sizes. For small satellites, they simplify systems and replace the poisonous and highly-regulated fuel, hydrazine. For CubeSats, they increase capabilities by supplying 1,000x higher performance than electric-based propulsion systems. By building these technologies in tandem, Dawn is creating the end-to-end architecture required for delivering, positioning and returning spacecraft in a highly scalable and environmentally conscious way.
That ends our compilation of the 16 fastest-expanding aerospace startups funded by VCs in 2022.
This industry is diverse, with startups working on topics from slingshot technology to supply marketplaces.
As sustainable aviation and space exploration become more necessary, we can anticipate the emergence of innovative new startups in the future.
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