SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TDK Corporation (TSE:6762) announced today that its corporate venture capital subsidiary, TDK Ventures, Inc., is investing up to $5 million in the Series A funding round of Bengaluru-based space technology company, Ethereal Exploration Guild. The investment backs the company’s mission to develop the world’s first fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle, the Razor Crest Mk-1.
The Guild’s breakthrough approach is designed to disrupt the launch market by lowering orbital transport costs to a target range of $500–$1,000 per kilogram, a pricing point necessary to unlock economic viability for many next-generation space applications, enabling the introduction of rocket cargo as a service. The Guild differentiates itself from competitors through its reusable upper-stage, which utilizes a proprietary rocket engine feed cycle called the Full Flow Segregated Cooling Cycle (FFSCC). Additionally, the Guild uses in-house simulation tools and test infrastructure, which together contribute to better overall vehicle reusability and shorter development cycles.
The global space economy is poised for exponential growth over the next decade and is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035. This expansion is driven by the increasing deployment of satellite constellations, which has created a critical supply/demand gap for dedicated, cost-effective launch services, particularly in the medium-lift class.
- The medium-lift segment (2,000–50,000 kg/approximately 900–22,700 lbs.) is expected to account for 95% of the launch vehicle market share and represents a total addressable market (TAM) of approximately $17.2 billion by 2030.
- India’s favorable regulatory landscape, talented labor pool, and cost-effective supply chain combine to position a startup such as Ethereal Exploration Guild to capitalize on this market opportunity.
- The Guild is pioneering full reusability by recovering both the booster and the upper stage, which is the only viable path to achieving the targeted ultra-low launch costs while maintaining a high launch cadence.
The investment aligns TDK Ventures with a strategically important segment of the new industrial revolution, which is highly reliant on specialized electronics. Moreover, the Guild is among the few global companies, and the only one in India, pursuing this challenge.
“TDK Ventures is thrilled to back the Guild in its goal to reshape the medium-lift space-launch industry,” said Nicolas Sauvage, President of TDK Ventures. “The company aligns seamlessly with our vision for transformative innovation, excelling in every critical metric for market leadership: slashing launch costs to $500 per kilogram to unlock vast market potential, pioneering novel technologies to streamline development, and harnessing India’s rich ISRO expertise and cost-efficient supply chain.”
The Guild is led by founders Manu J. Nair, Shubhayu Sardar, and Prashanth Sharma, each of whom brings exceptional technical expertise gained from their time spent at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), satellite and auxiliary propulsion systems company Manastu Space, and the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS). The entire team combines entrepreneurial spirit with space expertise, including scientists trained overseas and ISRO veterans.
“Securing the backing of a strategic partner like TDK Ventures validates our vision to rearchitect today’s unipolar access to space into a truly multipolar frontier, and to catalyze civilizational progress,” CEO Nair said. “Their leadership in precision sensing, high-reliability passive components, and advanced power-delivery technologies brings critical materials and systems expertise that will support our push toward rapid development and early validation milestones for the Razor Crest Mk-1 platform.”
The investment allows Ethereal Exploration Guild to tap into TDK Corporation’s strengths in advanced sensing, high-reliability passive components, magnetics, and power-delivery technologies—supporting the Guild in building more robust guidance systems, improving power integrity across avionics modules, and selecting commercially proven components that can be engineered for high-vibration and high-thermal environments. In turn, TDK gains insights into next-generation launch and avionics architectures, helping inform the development of mission-critical sensors, ruggedized components, and power-management solutions for the rapidly expanding space economy.
Ethereal Exploration Guild’s existing investors include YourNest VC, Bluehill Capital, BIG Capital, Campus Fund, and Golden Sparrow VC. The company has already manufactured its 80kN upper-stage reusable engine (Pegasus) and has signed collaboration agreements with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), ISRO, and other national space agencies, as well as commercial satellite operators, launch aggregators, and launch ports globally.
TDK Ventures is committed to finding and impacting scaling technologies on the frontiers of innovation, whose contributions have the potential to build a better, brighter future for all of humanity. To learn more about TDK Ventures, interested startups or investment partners should visit www.tdk-ventures.com or reach out at contact@tdk-ventures.com.
