Venus Aerospace announced the close of a $91 million Series B financing round to scale development and production of its rotating detonation rocket engine technology. The round was led by Mercury Fund, with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, MESH, PEAK6, Draper Associates, Starboard Star Venture Capital, Green Sands Equity, and other new and existing strategic and institutional investors.
The funding follows Venus Aerospace’s May 2025 flight test of a high-thrust rotating detonation rocket engine. The company plans to use the capital to move its RDRE propulsion system from successful flight demonstration toward deployment across near-term defense and space applications.
Venus Aerospace said current propulsion systems often struggle to meet customer requirements for range, performance, and domestic production. The company is developing its RDRE technology to address those gaps through a propulsion architecture designed for efficiency, manufacturability, and mission flexibility.
Unlike conventional rocket engines that use subsonic combustion, Venus’ RDRE uses a continuous supersonic detonation wave that rotates around the combustion chamber. The company said this architecture creates a 15% efficiency improvement, which can translate into extended range, increased payload flexibility, and improved performance for defense and space missions.
The engine is built from 3D-printed components and standard materials. Venus said this approach is intended to support domestic manufacturing at scale through accessible supply chains while reducing reliance on constrained or foreign-sourced components.
The RDRE is designed to be reusable and throttleable, with potential applications across munitions, space launch, orbital transfer, and landers. Rather than building a separate engine for each application, Venus is developing a common propulsion architecture that can support multiple mission classes.
The announcement also follows the recent appointment of Pam Melroy, former NASA Deputy Administrator, to the company’s board of directors. Venus said the financing will help support the next stage of growth as it builds engines in Texas with American engineering and manufacturing talent.
Venus Aerospace was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Houston. The company is developing next-generation propulsion systems for defense, space, and future high-speed flight.
KEY QUOTES:
“This financing marks an important step in moving Venus from breakthrough demonstration to scaled capability. Our customers need propulsion systems that go farther, can be produced reliably and are built on supply chains they can trust. We are advancing that capability with American engineering and manufacturing talent to strengthen U.S. defense, expand space access and support the future of high-speed flight.”
Sassie Duggleby, Co-Founder and CEO of Venus Aerospace
“Venus is exactly the kind of company Houston capital should be backing. It combines multiple frontier technologies, domestic manufacturing and clear commercial and national security relevance. We believe this team is positioned to lead an important new chapter in defense and space, and we are proud to support a company building breakthrough technology here in Texas.”
Blair Garrou, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Mercury Fund
“Lockheed Martin Ventures invests in technologies to help increase mission effectiveness. Since our initial investment, Venus has progressed very quickly in its technology development. Our reinvestment in Venus recognizes Venus’ accomplishments to date and focus on speed to manufacture, cost management and reduction of supply chain constraints. Venus is working effectively to position its propulsion system for the production scale required by defense programs.”
Chris Moran, Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures
“This capital allows us to move from successful flight demonstration toward deployable propulsion systems. What differentiates our RDRE is not just that it works, but that it has flown at high thrust and was designed with scale, manufacturability and mission integration in mind. Our propulsion architecture combines efficiency, throttling, reusability and manufacturability in a way that customers need for real defense and space missions. We are focused on translating technical progress into reliable systems for operational use.”
Andrew Duggleby, Co-Founder and CTO of Venus Aerospace
