The Series A round reflects a 5.5x jump in valuation, valuing the company at $80.5 million
29th January 2026, BENGALURU: The Guild (formerly known as EtherealX), a space tech startup building the world’s first fully reusable medium-lift rocket, has secured a total of $20.5 million. The Guild received their Series A funding from TDK Ventures and BIG Capital, with participation from Accel, Prosus, Yournest, Campus Fund, BlueHill, and Riceberg. Post securing the series round, the company’s valuation jumped 5.5x, valuing the company at $80.5 million. With the competition of the current round, the company has received a total funding of $25.5 million to date.
“Securing the backing of a strategic partner like TDK Ventures validates our vision to rearchitect today’s unipolar access to space into a truly multipolar frontier, and catalyze civilizational progress,” said Manu Nair, Co-Founder and CEO, Ethereal Exploration Guild. “Their expertise in avionics, hardware optimization to reduce latency, and high-performance components will strengthen our hand as we push the Razor Crest Mk-1 toward rapid development and flight qualification. With their support, we are confident to hit our aggressive timelines, unlock meaningful launch flexibility, and establish a new cost baseline for orbital access”, added Manu.
The Guild will soon begin a series of tests of its engines, such as the 1.2MN Booster Stage of the TDV, powered by the world’s most powerful reusable semi-cryogenic engine called The Stallion. The upper stage of the TDV and Full-flow Segregated Cooling Cycle (FSCC), a novel propulsion feed cycle designed to enable second-stage reusability, will also undergo testing. The Guild will also commission the establishment and development of BASE-002 in Space City, Andhra Pradesh, for integrated stage and engine firing for Booster and Upper Stage qualification. The Guild will look to achieve the above while ensuring the continuous and sustained operation of BASE-001 in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, for testing of their 80kN Pegasus Engines.
“TDK Ventures is thrilled to back the Guild in its goal to reshape the medium-lift space-launch industry,” said Nicolas Sauvage, President of TDK Ventures. “The company aligns seamlessly with our vision for transformative innovation, excelling in every critical metric for market leadership: slashing launch costs to $500 per kilogram to unlock vast market potential, pioneering novel technologies to streamline development, and harnessing India’s rich ISRO expertise and cost-efficient supply chain.”
India’s space growth will be driven by facilities that let the country test, qualify, and scale at home. Base 001 fills a nationally strategic gap in semi-cryogenic propulsion testing and places India among the few countries with comparable pressure regime capability, with turbopump testing that can exceed 35,000 RPM, and the intent to operate as a shared national asset for collaboration. Base 002 builds on this with end-to-end manufacturing, testing, and flight qualification for the Stallion 1200 kN booster engine, cluster testing, stage refurbishment, AIT, flight software validation, and full stage qualification, backed by large-scale additive manufacturing and cryo-rated turbopump testing up to 24,000 RPM. Together, these facilities strengthen national capability while creating globally relevant infrastructure that The Guild can use to serve domestic and international customers.
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