The archive · Space, Robots, Defence · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
The Guild bets a fully reusable medium-lift rocket can cut launch costs to $500/kg
Bengaluru's The Guild (EtherealX) raised $20.5M at an $80.5M valuation to make a fully reusable medium-lift rocket, chasing $500/kg launch costs.
The Guild (EtherealX)
What the business is
The Guild (formerly EtherealX) is developing Razor Crest Mk-1, a fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle with a reusable upper stage, aimed at up to 24.8 tonnes to low Earth orbit and launch costs of $500–1,000 per kilogram.
Starting capital：$5M seed (August 2024, led by YourNest); $20.5M Series A co-led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital, announced January 2026 — $25.5M total.
How it started
Manu J Nair, Shubhayu Sardar and Prashanth Sharma founded Ethereal Exploration Guild, later branded EtherealX and then The Guild, in Bengaluru in 2022. Their thesis: launch prices stay high because rockets are expendable, and the cost per kilogram falls only when both stages of a vehicle return and fly again. Rather than chase SpaceX-scale superheavy lift, they sized the vehicle to the medium-lift segment, where commercial constellations and government missions create steady demand, and started with engine development.
What happened
The company designed Razor Crest Mk-1 around a proprietary full-flow segregated cooling cycle that lets the upper stage survive re-entry, paired with two engines it says it has built: Pegasus, an 80 kN reusable upper-stage engine tested at its BASE-001 site in Cuddalore, and Stallion, a 1.2 MN semi-cryogenic booster that powers a Technology Demonstrator Vehicle. After a $5M seed led by YourNest in August 2024, The Guild announced a $20.5M Series A in January 2026 co-led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital — with Accel, Prosus, YourNest, BlueHill Capital, Campus Fund and Riceberg Ventures participating — lifting its valuation 5.5x to $80.5M. TDK Ventures said its avionics and hardware expertise would help push the vehicle toward flight qualification and a $500-per-kilogram target, and the company announced plans to commission a second facility, BASE-002, at Space City in Andhra Pradesh.
How it ended up
As of late January 2026 The Guild has flown nothing: the next milestones are Technology Demonstrator Vehicle engine and stage tests and the commissioning of BASE-002. The bet that a $25M startup can make full reusability work at medium lift is therefore unproven until a stage actually returns.
Background
Three Bengaluru founders — Manu J Nair, Shubhayu Sardar and Prashanth Sharma — founded Ethereal Exploration Guild (EtherealX) in 2022 on a simple premise: launch prices stay high because rockets are thrown away after one flight, and the way to break the curve is to make every stage land and fly again. They aimed at the medium-lift segment rather than giant rockets, arguing that full reusability, not scale, is what collapses cost per kilogram.
The vehicle, Razor Crest Mk-1, is designed to carry up to 24.8 tonnes to low Earth orbit and 10.8 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit, with a proprietary full-flow segregated cooling cycle to make the upper stage reusable — the part most small launchers discard. The company says it has built the two engines that will power the stages: Pegasus, an 80 kN reusable upper-stage engine, and Stallion, a 1.2 MN semi-cryogenic booster it calls the world's most powerful reusable semi-cryogenic engine.
Capital followed the engineering claims: a $5M seed in August 2024 led by YourNest, then a $20.5M Series A announced in January 2026 co-led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital, with Accel, Prosus, YourNest, BlueHill Capital, Campus Fund and Riceberg Ventures participating. The round lifted the company's valuation 5.5x to $80.5M and brought total funding to $25.5M; TDK Ventures said its components and avionics expertise would help push the vehicle toward flight qualification and a $500-per-kilogram cost target.
As of late January 2026 the company had yet to fly anything: its next milestones were engine and stage-level tests of a Technology Demonstrator Vehicle, plus commissioning of a new test and manufacturing facility at Space City in Andhra Pradesh to complement its Pegasus test site in Cuddalore. It also said it had signed collaboration agreements with IN-SPACe, ISRO and commercial partners — leaving the claim that a $25M startup can make full reusability work at medium lift unproven until a stage actually returns.
What has to be true
- Launch prices stay high because rockets are thrown away; the Guild's premise is that full reusability — upper stage included — cuts cost, not vehicle scale.
- The medium-lift segment is where demand concentrates: Razor Crest Mk-1 targets 24.8 tonnes to LEO, sized for commercial constellations and government missions rather than superheavy lift.
- India's ISRO-trained engineering and low-cost supply chain give a Bengaluru startup a structural cost advantage over Western small launchers chasing the same economics.
- The engine-first path is credible but unproven: two engines built in 3.5 years is a claim, not a flight, and TDV stage tests plus BASE-002 are the next proof points.
- Backers with strategic stakes — TDK Ventures for components, Accel and Prosus for Indian deep tech — validated the round, which lifted valuation 5.5x to $80.5M.
What can be applied
Reusability flips launch economics at any size: with both stages landing, a $25M startup can aim at the cost curve SpaceX spent a decade of capital reaching — if the engines fly.
Aftermath
As of 2026-01-28 The Guild (formerly EtherealX) is in build-and-test with $25.5M raised: a $5M seed in August 2024 and a $20.5M Series A co-led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital at an $80.5M valuation. It says it has built the Pegasus and Stallion engines and signed agreements with IN-SPACe, ISRO and commercial partners; next come Technology Demonstrator Vehicle tests and commissioning BASE-002 at Space City, Andhra Pradesh. No orbital flight has occurred, so the fully reusable medium-lift bet at $500-1,000/kg remains untested.
Sources
- Spacetech Startup EtherealX Secures USD 20.5 Mn in Series A Round
- The Guild raises $20.5M in Series A round led by TDK Ventures, BIG Capital; co's valuation jumps 5.5x
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