Tim Draper Goes 'Wow' And Is 'Betting' On Robinhood Co-Founder Baiju Bhatt's Cowboy Space After Startup C
The company said the funding will support a rocket program that puts data centers into the vehicle’s second stage and targets a first launch before 2028.
- Cowboy Space Corporation, led by CEO Baiju Bhatt, raised $275 million in a Series B round at a $2 billion valuation, anchored by Index Ventures, to build rockets with orbital data center upper stages.
- Originally founded two years ago as Aetherflux to beam solar power to Earth, the venture pivoted toward space-based AI compute, hiring veterans from SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop its proprietary rocket program.
- By the end of 2028, Cowboy expects to launch proprietary rockets carrying a one-megawatt data center, starting with deploying its first 'Galactic Brain' node early next year using NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin modules.
- Citing "very, very scarce" launch options, Bhatt argued the company must build purpose-built vehicles to avoid dependence on external providers and address acute AI demand with a focused market strategy.
- Competition is intensifying as Starcloud recently raised funds for its own orbital data centers, while Overview Energy targets space-based power, with Starcloud seeking at least $200 million more to double its valuation to $2.2 billion.
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Tim Draper Goes 'Wow' And Is 'Betting' On Robinhood Co-Founder Baiju Bhatt's Cowboy Space After Startup C
Venture capitalist Tim Draper said Monday he is backing Cowboy Space Corp., a space and energy startup led by Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) co-founder Baiju Bhatt, after the company raised a new funding round to pursue orbital data centers powered by its own rockets. Draper Praises Bhatt's Big Space Bet "WOW… just WOW! As you all know, I love BIG ideas," Draper wrote on X. "When @BaijuBhatt first came to me about Robinhood, I thought it w…
Cowboy raises $275 million to build rockets with orbital data center upper stages
Cowboy Space, founded less than two years ago as Aetherflux to develop space-based solar power, has raised $275 million at a $2 billion valuation to build rockets with upper stages that would serve as data centers once in low Earth orbit.
There aren't enough rockets for space data centers — Cowboy Space raised $275M to build them
The apparently insatiable demand for AI compute has data center entrepreneurs looking to the stars. There's a key problem: There aren't enough rockets to put data centers in orbit around Earth, and they're too expensive.
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