Albuquerque startup Space Kinetic secures $12 million to advance payload development system prototype

Space Kinetic, an Albuquerque-based startup focused on space superiority and missile defense, has raised over $12 million in funding to develop a “completely new paradigm” for maneuvering through space.

Space Kinetic CEO and Co-founder Ryan Sullivan said when most people think about moving through space, they imagine a satellite with limited fuel, whether through chemical or electrical propulsion. The finite fuel reserve limits movement and, once it runs out, the technology becomes useless.

“Instead of using any kind of consumable fuel, we’ve developed this electromechanical system which integrates onto a number of different host satellites and rapidly deploys smaller payloads,” Sullivan said. “That’s important because we’re essentially able to take something that’s really cheap in space, angular momentum or spinning, and turn it into something that’s really precious.”

In a way, he said Space Kinetic is building something “very simple.” But Sullivan believes it can be the springboard to creating a new way to use space for national security, science and commercial applications.

Funding was led by Balerion Space Ventures and supported by Industrious Ventures, Marque Ventures, UP.Abundance, Backswing Ventures, the New Mexico Vintage Fund, Abo Empire and CerraCap Ventures.

Founded in 2022, Sullivan said the tech startup has been “extremely scrappy” from the beginning, having built its propellant-free electromechanical payload deployment system prototype in a garage. The company also secured a partnership with the Los Alamos National Laboratory early on through the New Mexico Lab-Embedded Entrepreneur Program, a two-year fellowship pairing entrepreneurs with LANL talent and technology.

“In the last three years, we’ve evolved from this garage-built prototype and literal back-of-the-napkin sketches to a venture-backed startup that is cleared to work on many of our nation’s most urgent security priorities,” Sullivan said.

The investments were raised as part of the company’s seed funding round, and Sullivan said it did so because the startup sees “urgent signals” from the federal government that new capabilities are needed in space to even the playing field. He said funds will be used to expedite the research and development process and deliver its first flight-qualified system.

“Our adversaries have spent the last 25 years focusing on disrupting a rules-based order in the space domain,” he said. “The United States and our allies need new ways to ensure that we can continue to use space in a way that’s prosperous, peaceful and rules-based for everyone.”

CerraCap Ventures, a California-based venture capital firm, was one of many investors in the seed funding round, usually the initial capital early-stage startups raise. Operating Partner Abhi Mukherjee said he “loved” the passion that Sullivan and Co-founder Scott Ziegler brought to the table. He did not disclose how much money the company invested.

Mukherjee said CerraCap often looks to invest in technologies in the interest of national security and defense, but very recently began looking into space technology. Space Kinetic checked all the boxes, he said.

“At the end of the day, our mantra has been, ‘Healthier, secure planet. Whoever controls space dominates the Earth,’” Mukherjee said. “Ryan and Scott are on a trajectory that aligns with our mission, our vision, our mantra and our investment thesis.”