Star Catcher Industries just secured a major boost for its ambitious mission. Yesterday (May 12), the Florida-based space company announced an oversubscribed Series A funding round totaling $65 million, pushing its overall investment haul to $88 million.
The company plans to channel this capital into developing the world’s first in-space power grid, a project it believes will accelerate the rapidly expanding off-Earth economy.
A Bold Vision for Space Infrastructure
“Fundamentally, the vision of Star Catcher is to make it as easy to operate in space as it is to operate terrestrially,” company co-founder and CEO Andrew Rush told Space.com.
To achieve this, Rush argues, the space industry must replicate the same infrastructure that powers life on Earth — namely reliable transportation, communication, and power generation. While the first two pillars have firmly taken root in the final frontier, power generation still lags significantly behind.
“We all just go on these camping trips to space, and basically every satellite at some point in its life cycle is power limited,” Rush explained.
Consequently, the company is tackling this gap head-on. “That’s why, at Star Catcher, we’re focused on building the world’s first power grid in space — to eliminate that bottleneck and take us from a world of power budgets into a world of power abundance,” he added.
How “Power Nodes” Will Work
Star Catcher will operate a network of “power node” spacecraft in Earth orbit. These satellites will harvest energy directly from the sun and then transmit it to other satellites via laser. Notably, client spacecraft won’t need any modifications or specialized equipment — their existing solar panels will simply catch the laser light.
As a result, recipient satellites will operate far more efficiently and capably, according to Rush.
“We can enable people to operate at full rate in eclipse,” he said, referring to periods when satellites pass through Earth’s shadow.
Furthermore, the technology unlocks new operational possibilities. “We can give them anywhere from two to 10X the uptime that they would normally have for certain national security missions,” Rush added. “We can enable folks to maneuver while they sense, or to maneuver more aggressively than what they could do with just the one naked sun.”
In addition, Star Catcher’s power nodes could “trickle-charge” aging satellites whose solar arrays and batteries have degraded, effectively extending their operational lifespans.
Strong Backing from Defense and Industry Leaders
The funding round drew significant attention from defense-focused investors. Space Force Gen. Jay Raymond (Ret.), senior managing director at Cerberus Ventures, emphasized the strategic importance of the technology.
“Energy and infrastructure resilience are core national and economic priorities on Earth, as in orbit,” Raymond, who served as the first chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, said in a statement.
Moreover, he highlighted the operational constraints the grid could solve. “Persistent surveillance, resilient communications and unhindered maneuverability are all constrained today by power. An on-demand power grid can change that, expanding critical capabilities across commercial and national security missions.”
Emerging Commercial Opportunities
Several commercial use cases have recently sharpened into view. Rush identified direct-to-cell telecommunications and on-orbit AI data centers as the two most promising customer bases for Star Catcher. Although both fields remain in their infancy — orbiting data centers are still purely theoretical — deep-pocketed companies including Google and SpaceX have already announced plans to build such constellations.
Looking further ahead, roughly a decade from now, Star Catcher could extend its power-beaming services beyond Earth orbit and reach equipment on the lunar surface.
This capability could prove especially valuable for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to build crewed bases near the lunar south pole. The region holds significant deposits of water ice, but that ice sits primarily on the permanently shadowed floors of polar craters, making access difficult for solar-powered lunar terrain vehicles (LTVs).
“We can enable LTVs to not just have to ridge run, but actually go down into Shackleton Crater, into places where we’re really, really interested and we think there’s fascinating stuff going on, with the confidence that you have a power line connected to that vehicle,” Rush said. “That, to me, just gets me really excited.”
While NASA has identified nuclear power as a key enabler for lunar operations, Star Catcher views its system as a complement rather than a replacement.
“It can be a forerunner,” Rush said. “Or we can put assets on lunar orbit and provide power while we’re building out the base. And it’s also a technology that can distribute the energy that is generated from a nuclear reactor.”
Rapid Progress and a Clear Roadmap
Despite being founded just two years ago, Star Catcher has already racked up significant technical milestones. In March 2025, the company successfully demonstrated its power-beaming technology at EverBank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, transmitting energy across the full 300-foot length of the football field.
Then, in November, Star Catcher beamed 1.1 kilowatts of power to commercial off-the-shelf solar panels during tests at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This achievement shattered the previous record of 800 watts, which DARPA had set just months earlier in May 2025.
Now, the company is preparing for its first off-Earth test, slated to launch later this year. Star Catcher is currently delivering flight hardware for the mission, which will attempt to beam power to a free-flying satellite, according to Rush.
Subsequently, the company plans to roll out a series of missions that will beam progressively larger amounts of power over greater distances.
“If all goes well, we’ll fly [that] series of missions over the next couple of years,” Rush said. “We expect to be scaling commercial services by the end of the decade.”
Customer Demand Already Materializing
Demand for these services has already begun to build. Star Catcher has signed seven power purchase agreements with seven companies to date, including Starcloud, Loft Orbital, and Astro Digital. The company has also locked in “multiple government customers,” according to Rush.
B Capital led the newly announced investment round, with additional participation from Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures — the venture arm of Cerberus Capital Management. As part of the deal, Raymond will join Star Catcher’s board, alongside B Capital General Partner and Global Head of Energy Jeff Johnson, and Shield Principal David Rothzeid.
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