19 January 2026

 

Japan’s TDK Corporation has announced that its corporate venture arm, TDK Ventures, is investing up to $5 million in Bengaluru-based startup Ethereal Exploration Guild. The deal stood out for more than its technical ambition. It reflects a broader shift underway in the global space economy—and a growing conviction that India’s regulatory and industrial landscape is now mature enough to support private launch companies at scale.

Ethereal Exploration Guild is developing the Razor Crest Mk-1, a fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle designed to deliver payloads to orbit at a target cost of $500–$1,000 per kilogram. Hitting that price point would mark a step-change in launch economics, opening the door to new satellite constellations, responsive launch models, and emerging space-based services that remain constrained by today’s costs.

In an exclusive interview with MoveTheNeedle.news, Ravi Jain, Investment Director at TDK Ventures, explains why the firm believes Ethereal’s cost targets are credible—and why India has become a strategically compelling base for private launch innovation.

A launch market under pressure

The global space economy is projected to grow to $1.8 trillion by 2035, driven largely by the rapid expansion of satellite constellations for communications, Earth observation, navigation, and defense. While satellite manufacturing has scaled quickly, launch capacity—particularly for dedicated medium-lift missions—has struggled to keep pace.

Medium-lift vehicles, capable of carrying payloads between roughly 2,000 and 50,000 kilograms, are expected to account for the majority of global launch demand by the end of the decade. Yet operators often face long lead times, limited scheduling flexibility, or dependence on rideshare missions that don’t align with constellation deployment plans.

“The supply-demand imbalance is real,” Jain says. “Affordable, available launch capacity in this segment remains a bottleneck.”

Modelling the economics, not betting on optimism

Razor Crest Mk-1’s headline ambition—launch costs as low as $500 per kilogram—is aggressive by any standard. Jain is clear that TDK Ventures’ confidence did not come from aspiration alone.

“This is something that has been modelled as part of our techno-commercial diligence process. There are benchmarks of other launch companies operating from India, in other weight class categories who've executed test flights already and data from them show that such pricing can be viable.”

Those benchmarks reflect a combination of factors specific to India: a deep pool of space-trained engineers, a cost-competitive manufacturing base, and an industrial ecosystem shaped by decades of collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

But cost alone does not explain the investment. Ethereal’s technical architecture—and its approach to reusability—also played a central role.

Why full reusability matters

Ethereal is one of the few companies globally, and the only one in India, pursuing full reusability—recovering both the booster and the upper stage. While partial reusability has already proven its value elsewhere, Jain views full reusability as a logical next step rather than a speculative leap.

“Partial reusability, in other words, booster recovery, does cover a large part of the economic benefit. The company has several other structural cost advantages which makes the cost disruptive.”

Those advantages include vehicle design choices, operational assumptions, and a development strategy tightly integrated with India’s domestic supply chain. Full reusability, in this context, is less about novelty and more about sustaining low costs while supporting a higher launch cadence.

Tackling the upper-stage problem

A key technical differentiator for Ethereal is its proprietary Full Flow Segregated Cooling Cycle (FFSCC), which powers the company’s reusable upper-stage engine, Pegasus. Upper-stage reusability has historically been one of the hardest challenges in launch vehicle design, primarily due to extreme thermal loads during re-entry.

“This is a clever design which tackles the hitherto difficult problem related to re-entry heat,” Jain says.

Ethereal has already manufactured its 80 kN Pegasus engine, an important milestone in a sector where progress is often measured in years rather than quarters. Jain declines to comment on upcoming validation steps, citing confidentiality, but notes that the company expects to share milestones as they are achieved over the next 12 to 18 months.

India’s policy shift: from state monopoly to private participation

While technology is central to Ethereal’s story, policy is the enabling layer. India’s space sector has undergone a significant transformation since 2020, moving from a state-dominated model to one that explicitly encourages private participation.

The creation of IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre) and the introduction of the Indian Space Policy 2023 formalized this shift. For the first time, private companies are permitted to undertake end-to-end space activities, including the development and operation of launch vehicles, subject to authorization.

“India's liberalized policy changes and indigenous supply chain are critical pieces enabling this investment,” Jain says.

Recent adjustments to foreign direct investment rules have further lowered barriers for international capital, reinforcing India’s positioning as a viable base for globally oriented space startups.

Strategic alignment beyond capital

TDK Ventures’ involvement is not limited to funding. As part of the broader TDK Group, the firm brings expertise in precision sensing, high-reliability passive components, magnetics, and power-delivery technologies—all critical to modern avionics and guidance systems.

“TDK teams will work closely with the founders of the company to help in all aspects where TDK capabilities can potentially solve a problem or make their launch product better,” Jain says. “TDK's expertise in sensors, magnetics & power delivery should be very helpful in the company's endeavours.”

That emphasis on strategic contribution reflects TDK Ventures’ investment philosophy.

“Our investment strategy is driven by the potential for TDK’s unique capabilities to meaningfully accelerate a portfolio company's growth. Consequently, a rigorous synergy assessment is central to our decision-making process; we prioritize strategic alignment over standalone financial returns.”

Execution risk remains—and that’s expected

Despite policy tailwinds and strategic backing, Jain is candid about the risks ahead.

“Any spacetech startup has relatively high execution and technology risk. The risk mitigation is through thorough execution, which the founders are very capable of doing.”

Ethereal’s founding team—Manu J. Nair, Shubhayu Sardar, and Prashanth Sharma—brings experience from ISRO, private propulsion companies, and international research institutions. The company has also established collaborations with IN-SPACe, ISRO, national space agencies, satellite operators, and launch aggregators, signaling a transition from concept to ecosystem integration.

A more accessible orbit

If Ethereal succeeds with Razor Crest Mk-1, Jain sees its impact in practical terms rather than symbolic ones.

“This will enable easier access to space for companies looking to launch new satellites or satellite constellations in space.”

For TDK Ventures, the investment reflects a belief that access to orbit is becoming foundational infrastructure for the next phase of industrial and digital growth—and that India’s combination of policy reform, engineering talent, and cost structure now makes it a credible place to build that infrastructure.

 

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