Airbus Ventures invests in Venus Aerospace

Airbus Ventures announces its investment in Venus Aerospace, a Houston-based hypersonic startup enabling cost-effective one-hour global transport. Joining Venus' team of investors, Airbus Ventures will support the team in their next phase of flight-redefining growth.

“Venus has developed the world's first liquid-propellant rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) with a double-digit percentage increase in efficiency over standard regular engines, making the hypersonic economy possible,” remarks Venus Aerospace CEO and co-founder Sassie Duggleby, who goes on to say, “We're delighted to bring Airbus Ventures into the Venus family and look forward to growing our collaboration as we harness the future of hypersonic flight.”

Venus has been awarded contracts with NASA and US Defense Agencies to accelerate the development and transition of its RDRE technology to enhance existing government missions. The company's advancements can also enable more efficient travel in and through space.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sassie, Andrew, and the entire Venus team into the Airbus Ventures portfolio. In the world of RDREs, their pioneering approach - designing, building, and demonstrating the first liquid, storable-propellant fueled rotating detonation rocket engine - unlocks advanced aircraft capabilities and opens new vistas on our whole planetary system,” praises Airbus Ventures Managing Partner Thomas d'Halluin. “Venus' compact, low mass, high efficiency engine capability will have an immediate impact on lunar and martian landers, space mobility and logistics, and deep space mission proposals. Here on Earth today, we will see unprecedented performance gains for drones of all kinds, and more practical and faster-than-anticipated opportunities for ultra-high-speed passenger and cargo rocket plane flights.”

“With the strong support of Airbus Ventures now joining our investor syndicate, our next round will let Venus take the final step from lab to prototype as we fly our drone to Mach 3 under RDRE power," says Dr. Andrew Duggleby, CTO and co-founder. “This will include long-duration engine runs this summer at Spaceport Houston, as well as the design, build, and flight of our drone with the broader Venus team and our incredible partners.”

In Spring 2022, the company raised its $20M Series A, led by Prime Movers Lab, to fund engine development and subscale initial flight testing for building its Mach 9 hypersonic drone and Mach 9 spacecraft, both capable of one-hour global travel.