Aetherflux, the ambitious space-based solar power startup founded by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, is poised to raise $250 million to $350 million in a Series B funding round, valuing the company at $2 billion. The deal is reportedly being led by Index Ventures, according to The Wall Street Journal.
From Earth-Bound Power to Space-Native Compute
Aetherflux initially aimed to beam solar energy harvested in orbit back to Earth via lasers. However, the company has dramatically shifted its focus to powering AI and data centers directly in space. This strategic move responds to the burgeoning demand for distributed computing architectures from companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Starcloud, all racing to establish infrastructure beyond the atmosphere.
“We realized the economics favor powering AI in space, rather than transmitting energy to Earth,” Bhatt stated in a recent TechCrunch interview. This pivot marks a significant departure from the original vision, but underscores Aetherflux’s adaptability to the evolving space tech landscape.
Timeline and Future Plans
The company, which has already raised approximately $80 million since its launch in 2024, plans to continue refining laser power transmission technology on an Apex Space satellite bus. However, its primary focus is now building a dedicated data center satellite, projected to launch in 2027.
The key challenge for Aetherflux is to achieve economic parity with terrestrial data centers. If successful, this would represent a major breakthrough in space-based computing, unlocking new possibilities for AI development and other computationally intensive applications.
This pivot highlights the growing recognition of space as a viable, even superior, location for certain types of computing infrastructure. The race to establish a presence in space for data processing is only accelerating, and Aetherflux appears determined to lead the way.
