Overview
- Venus announced it closed a $91 million Series B on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 to fund engine development and expand production capacity for its rotating detonation rocket engine.
- The round was led by Mercury Fund and included strategic investors such as Lockheed Martin Ventures along with several venture and institutional backers.
- The company says the funding will build a domestic supply chain and 3D-print many components in Texas to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers and speed manufacturing.
- Venus points to a recent flight demonstration of a 2,000-pound-thrust RDRE as the technical milestone underpinning the move to scale, but independent validation of performance claims, including the company’s roughly 15% efficiency improvement, remains pending.
- The company has added industry and government experience to its board and won state support for a Houston test facility, signaling growing commercial and defense interest in next-generation propulsion technology.