The archive · Space, Robots, Defence · Strategic decision · 2024–2026
Aetherflux bets orbital data centers beat Earth's limits — then builds its own rockets
Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt's Aetherflux pivoted to solar-powered orbital AI data centers, rebranding as Cowboy Space with a $275M Series B at $2B.
Cowboy Space Corporation (Aetherflux)
What the business is
Cowboy Space Corporation (formerly Aetherflux), founded by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt in 2024, builds solar-powered AI data center satellites for low Earth orbit and the rockets to launch them.
Starting capital：$275M Series B at $2B post-money (May 2026) led by Index Ventures, plus roughly $80M raised earlier — about $355M in outside funding (TechCrunch; SiliconANGLE).
How it started
Bhatt, who co-founded Robinhood, started the company in 2024 as Aetherflux to collect solar power in space and beam it to Earth. The orbital data-center idea led him to use that electricity in orbit instead, and the lack of available launch capacity pushed him one step further: build the rocket too.
What happened
On May 11, 2026, the company announced the $275M Series B and the Cowboy Space rebrand, with plans to deploy 'Stampede' solar-powered LEO data center satellites using NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin modules, launch its first satellite later in 2026 to demonstrate space-to-Earth power beaming, and fly its first 1-megawatt data center on its own rocket before the end of 2028. It hired ex-SpaceX launch director Tyler Grinnell and ex-Blue Origin propulsion engineer Warren Lamont.
How it ended up
As of May 2026, Cowboy Space had no satellite in orbit and no rocket flying — the plan is a first demo satellite in 2026, a computing payload demonstration in 2027 and the first proprietary rocket launch by the end of 2028, with investors paying a $2B valuation for the bet (TechCrunch; SatelliteToday).
Background
Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood, started the company in 2024 as Aetherflux to harvest solar power in space and beam it to Earth. The idea of orbital data centers led him to use that electricity in orbit instead, and the scarcity of launch capacity led to the final piece: Cowboy Space now plans to build both the satellites and the rocket.
On May 11, 2026 Cowboy Space announced a $275M Series B at a $2B valuation led by Index Ventures, with IVP, SAIC, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Construct Capital, NEA and a16z participating. The renamed company aims to launch a data center satellite later in 2026 to demonstrate power beaming, then fly its first 1-megawatt orbital data center on its own rocket by the end of 2028.
The design makes the rocket's upper stage the data center itself — a 20,000-25,000 kg vehicle generating 1 MW for about 800 NVIDIA GPUs in orbit. It places Cowboy in direct competition with SpaceX, Blue Origin and other space data center ventures, while betting that first-party launch capacity is the scarce resource that will decide who wins AI-in-orbit.
What has to be true
- Orbital solar panels far outproduce ground ones, but Aetherflux's original beam-to-Earth plan lost too much in transmission — using the power in orbit sidesteps that (TechCrunch).
- No launch provider has the capacity to scale an orbital data center business — Starship and New Glenn are years from commercial reliability — so Bhatt started his own rocket program (TechCrunch).
- Building the data center into the second stage makes rocket and payload one 20,000-25,000 kg, 1 MW vehicle with about 800 GPUs — a simplification no satellite-plus-rocket pairing offers (TechCrunch).
- Index Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a16z and NEA paid a $2B valuation before any flight hardware existed — capital betting on the AI-in-orbit thesis, not milestones (SiliconANGLE).
What can be applied
When the constraint is upstream of your product, own it: Cowboy found no launch provider with enough capacity for orbital data centers, so vertical integration became the moat instead of an option.
Aftermath
After the May 11, 2026 announcement, Cowboy Space said its solar-powered LEO constellation, called 'Stampede,' will use NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin modules, and its first satellite launch later in 2026 will demonstrate beaming power from space to Earth. No flight hardware had been launched and no engine had been publicly static-fired as of early June 2026; the company was hiring launch and propulsion veterans from SpaceX and Blue Origin while working through testing, manufacturing and launch-site needs.
Sources
- There aren't enough rockets for space data centers — Cowboy Space raised $275M to build them
- Cowboy Space raises $275M to build orbital AI data centers
- Aetherflux Rebrands as Cowboy Space, Expanding Plans to In-Orbit Compute and Launch
- Robinhood co-founder's Cowboy Space raises $275M led by Index Ventures to take on SpaceX and Blue Origin amid 'AI in orbit' race
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