Aetherflux, the nascent enterprise specializing in orbital solar power, founded by Robinhood’s originator Baiju Bhatt, is reportedly engaging in discussions to procure between $250 million and $350 million for a Series B funding stage, which would appraise the corporation at $2 billion.
This capital acquisition was initially disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, which indicated Index Ventures is spearheading the transaction. Since its inception in 2024, Aetherflux has accumulated approximately $80 million. The company opted not to make a statement regarding the matter.
Over recent months, Aetherflux has reoriented its primary objective, directing its power generation innovations towards extraterrestrial data centers. This move deemphasizes its initial vision of transmitting electricity to Earth via lasers. Concurrently, aerospace enterprises like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Starcloud, and others are now conceptualizing new frameworks for scattered computing capabilities in orbit.
“For the record, we never moved our pivot foot — no traveling violation occurred,” Bhatt quipped during a discussion with TechCrunch the previous week. He elaborated, “Roughly a year ago, the realization struck that, in fact, if one intended to supply AI with the technology we had in mind, positioning the processors in space would be considerably more beneficial than beaming power from orbit to an Earth-bound data facility.”
Even as the company intends to proceed with its investigations into laser power transmission aboard a satellite platform crafted by Apex Space, its initial data center satellite is anticipated to launch in 2027. Bhatt affirmed, “Our aim is to create a solution that can contend with ground-based economic realities.”
This will prove challenging.
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