Letara Raises $16M to Build Larger Hybrid Rockets — SkimNews
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- Letara raised ¥2.6 billion (~$16M) in a round co-led by Headline Asia, JIC Venture Growth Investment, and Incubate Fund, with strategic participation from Toyota Group supplier Toyoda Gosei, energy firm NES Corporation, and JAXA-backed Frontier Innovations.
- The Sapporo-based startup will expand from hybrid satellite thrusters into large rocket systems for space, defense, and security markets, co-CEO Shota Hirai told TechCrunch.
- Letara's hybrid design separates inexpensive solid fuel like plastic and rubber from liquid oxidizer, using a proprietary manufacturing process the company says generates more thrust with less waste than traditional paraffin-wax hybrids.
- The global hybrid rocket propulsion market is projected to grow from $848 million in 2024 to $2.6 billion by 2032 at a 15% CAGR.
- Letara already holds orders from rocket and satellite companies and the Japanese government, and its next milestone is an in-orbit firing test with an overseas partner.
- Competing hybrid rocket developers include Japan's Interstellar Technologies, China's Galactic Energy, South Korea's InnoSpace, Singapore's Equatorial Space, Germany's HyImpulse, and Australia's Gilmour Space.
- Co-founders Shota Hirai and Landon Thomas Kamps spun Letara out of Hokkaido University in 2020; the startup said recycled plastic could eventually serve as fuel with further testing.
Why it matters: Letara's $16M raise and pivot from satellite thrusters to large rockets positions the startup to compete for Japan's growing government defense and space contracts against rivals across Asia-Pacific and Europe, in a hybrid propulsion market expanding 15% annually to $2.6 billion by 2032. Strategic backing from Toyota Group supplier Toyoda Gosei and JAXA-linked Frontier Innovations signals industrial and governmental alignment beyond satellite components.
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