PiggyGPT

Private companiesCovered

Venus Aerospace

Houston, TX · Founded 2020

Venus Aerospace builds rotating detonation rocket engines (RDRE) and a detonation ramjet for defense, space and high-speed flight. It flew a high-thrust RDRE for the first time in May 2025, closed a $91 million Series B led by Mercury Fund in July 2026, and that month signed a joint technology development agreement with Lockheed Martin for precision fires.

Profile

What it builds and who buys it

  • ·Venus’s rotating detonation rocket engine runs on a continuous supersonic detonation wave that rotates around the combustion chamber, rather than subsonic combustion. The company says it is the most efficient rocket engine architecture ever flown, by 15 percent.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 8, 2026
  • ·The engine is built from 3D-printed components and standard materials, is reusable and throttleable, and is pitched for munitions, space launch, orbital transfer and landers as one common architecture.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 8, 2026
  • ·It flew its RDRE for the first time on May 14, 2025, at Spaceport America in New Mexico.Venus Aerospace (company release), May 14, 2025
  • ·The company says it reached that flight in just over four years on $80 million of capital.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 8, 2026
  • ·In July 2026 it signed a joint technology development agreement with Lockheed Martin to support Lockheed’s evaluation of an RDRE-based booster architecture for precision fires.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 21, 2026
  • ·It unveiled the VDR2 detonation ramjet in October 2024, developed with Velontra, which pairs the RDRE with a ramjet for a single engine from takeoff to as fast as Mach 6.Venus Aerospace (company release), Oct 1, 2024
  • ·It achieved first ignition of the VDR2 in December 2024, starting the ramjet at takeoff speed.Venus Aerospace (company release), Dec 18, 2024
  • ·It completed its first long-duration RDRE hot-fire test in March 2024, in partnership with DARPA.Venus Aerospace (company release), Mar 7, 2024
  • ·It partnered with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where its regeneratively cooled RDRE ran for 4 minutes of hotfire testing, and entered a second-year contract to provide engine parts for NASA’s RDRE research.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jan 8, 2024
  • ·It used a NASA Small Business Innovation Research award to test new nozzle designs for its engine.Venus Aerospace (company release), Apr 15, 2025
  • ·Its supersonic flight test drone made its first flight on February 24, 2024, reaching Mach 0.9 on a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant engine.Venus Aerospace (company release), Mar 26, 2024
  • ·The Texas Space Commission awarded it a grant of up to $3.9 million for the design, construction and activation of an RDRE testing facility in Houston.Texas Space Commission
  • ·It opened that propulsion test stand at the Houston Spaceport on September 10, 2026, for higher-thrust and longer-duration tests.Venus Aerospace (company release), Sep 10, 2026
  • ·CycloKinetics selected it to test the CycloRP drop-in rocket fuel in its RDRE, in a program sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The first round was completed in July 2026, and a fuller readout is expected in early 2027.Venus Aerospace (company release), Sep 1, 2026
  • ·In July 2026 it announced eight leadership additions and promotions, including Lane Bodian, a former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, as vice president of public policy.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 16, 2026
  • ·Pam Melroy, a former NASA Deputy Administrator, joined its board in September 2025.Venus Aerospace (company release), Sep 2, 2025
  • ·The World Economic Forum named it a 2026 Technology Pioneer.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jun 10, 2026
  • ·Its longer-term aim is the Stargazer M4, a Mach 4 reusable passenger aircraft.Venus Aerospace (company release), May 14, 2025
  • ·The company said it grew from 3 people to 40 in the year to April 2022.Venus Aerospace (company release, via Airframer), Apr 5, 2022

Founders and leadership

  • Sassie DugglebyCo-founder and chief executive

    A launch systems engineer and mission management consultant at Virgin Orbit before founding Venus, with earlier executive roles at fiber optics, biotechnology and manufacturing startups. She is a board member of the Texas Space Commission. She holds a biomedical engineering degree from Texas A&M and an MBA from Virginia Tech.Venus Aerospace (company site)

  • Andrew DugglebyCo-founder and chief technology officer

    Head of launch operations at Virgin Orbit. He held faculty positions in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and serves as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.Venus Aerospace (company site)

Prospects, after the July 2026 Series B

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

  • ·The work on file is development: Lockheed Martin’s evaluation of its booster, an Air Force Research Laboratory-sponsored fuel test, NASA and DARPA test work, and a state grant for a test stand. No production contract and no revenue figure are on file.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 21, 2026
  • ·The $91 million Series B led by Mercury Fund is the largest round on file. The company stated no valuation for it, and no named outlet has reported one. Clarity shows a $3.00 estimate.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 8, 2026
  • ·The Series B release describes Venus as building propulsion for defense, space and future high-speed flight. The Stargazer M4 passenger aircraft named in its 2025 flight-test release is the longer-term aim.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 8, 2026
  • ·For the acquisition read, the ties on file are investor stakes and a partnership: Lockheed Martin Ventures invested twice and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is evaluating the booster, and Airbus Ventures invested in 2023. No talks or approach are reported. The posture is watch.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Funding

Last valuation

No citable valuation

Last round or tender

$91Mraised

Series BVenus Aerospace (company release), Jul 8, 2026

Led by Mercury Fund, with Lockheed Martin Ventures, MESH, PEAK6, Draper Associates, Starboard Star Venture Capital, Green Sands Equity, Seraph Group, Trousdale Ventures and other new and existing investors. A Form D filed May 4, 2026 records $63,045,751 of equity sold to 39 investors from April 17, 2026, of a $99,999,989 offering; the release does not say how the filing relates to the round. No valuation was stated.

Latest revenue figure

—

Valuation to revenue

—

Post-money valuation by round

Fewer than two dated figures on file to plot; the table carries what there is.

DateRoundRaisedPost-money
Jul 8, 2026Series BLed by Mercury Fund, with Lockheed Martin Ventures, MESH, PEAK6, Draper Associates, Starboard Star Venture Capital, Green Sands Equity, Seraph Group, Trousdale Ventures and other new and existing investors. A Form D filed May 4, 2026 records $63,045,751 of equity sold to 39 investors from April 17, 2026, of a $99,999,989 offering; the release does not say how the filing relates to the round. No valuation was stated.$91M—
Oct 22, 2025Strategic investmentLockheed Martin Ventures invested. The amount was not disclosed. The company said it had secured more than $106 million to date.——
Jan 22, 2025Strategic investmentAmerica’s Frontier Fund invested; the company called it a new round of funding. The amount was not disclosed.——
May 22, 2023Form D offeringThe filing records $15,928,461 of equity sold to 17 investors from May 22, 2023, of a $33,012,738 offering, and does not name the round. The company announced Airbus Ventures as a new investor on June 14, 2023 without an amount; the release does not say how it relates to the filing. No valuation was stated.$16M—
Apr 5, 2022Series ALed by Prime Movers Lab, with Draper Associates, Boost, Saturn 5, Seraph Group, Cantos, The Helm and Tamarack Global, all earlier investors. The company put total funding at $33 million after it, including $1 million of non-dilutive government funding. A Form D filed April 12, 2022 records $29,174,807 of equity sold to 39 investors from March 21, 2022, of a $29,424,808 offering; the release does not say how the filing relates to the round. No valuation was stated.$20M—
Mar 4, 2021SeedLed by Prime Movers Lab, with Draper Associates, Boost VC, Saturn Five and X-Factor Ventures. Brandon Simmons of Prime Movers Lab joined the board. A Form D filed January 22, 2021 records $3,173,499 of equity sold to 19 investors from January 8, 2021; the release does not say how the filing relates to the round. No valuation was stated.$3M—
Mar 20, 2020Form D offeringNo announcement from the company. The filing records $70,000 of options, warrants or other rights to acquire another security sold to 5 investors from March 20, 2020, the whole offering, and does not name the round. No valuation was stated.$0M—

Primary capital across the rounds on file: $130M

Revenue

No citable revenue figure on file.

Secondary venues

  • Clarity (formerly Hiive)public page seen Oct 15, 2026

    Clarity Price $3.00, as of Oct 15, 2026

    Clarity calls the figure a model-derived indicative estimate calculated daily. The page’s description gives it as of October 14, 2026, while its "last updated" line reads August 28, 2026, so the day recorded is the day seen. The page shows +200.00% all time.

  • Nasdaq Private Marketpublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    The page shows no figure in its text or its title. Funding history is behind sign-up. It gives the founding year as 2019.

  • Caplightpublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    No public MarketPrice; pricing is behind a login. The page shows only Caplight’s last-round figures, a $607 million estimated valuation at the July 2026 Series B.

A venue is listed when its public page named the company on the date shown. A price is the figure that page showed, under the venue’s own name for it and dated as the venue dated it; it is a level the venue publishes, not a trade. Nothing is recorded from behind a login.

Reads

Acquisition: Watch

A cited tie to a plausible buyer: a strategic partner, an investor stake, a tender offer, a stated appetite. Nothing reported.

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

Signals

  • Jun 14, 2023Airbus Ventures joined Venus Aerospace’s investors, Defense Daily reported from the company’s announcement. No amount was disclosed.Defense Daily, Jun 14, 2023
  • Oct 22, 2025Lockheed Martin Ventures took a strategic stake in Venus Aerospace, SpaceNews reported. Its general manager said it was exploring approaches to scale and integrate Venus’s technology within critical systems.SpaceNews, Oct 22, 2025
  • Jul 8, 2026Lockheed Martin Ventures reinvested in the $91 million Series B led by Mercury Fund.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 8, 2026
  • Jul 21, 2026Venus Aerospace signed a joint technology development agreement with Lockheed Martin to support Lockheed’s evaluation of its RDRE-based booster architecture for precision fires. The president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control said the work would determine how the technology can be integrated into future precision fires solutions.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 21, 2026

Named counterparties

  • Lockheed MartinLockheed Martin Ventures invested in October 2025 and again in the Series B, and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is evaluating Venus’s booster under a joint technology development agreement. No interest in a deal has been reported.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jul 21, 2026
  • AirbusAirbus Ventures invested in 2023. The company’s release describes Airbus Ventures as a venture firm that independently funds startups. No interest in a deal has been reported.Venus Aerospace (company release), Jun 14, 2023

Counterparties are named for a cited reason: a partnership, an investment, or a stated appetite. Naming is not a forecast.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Sources

Researched Oct 15, 2026