Aetherflux is a San Carlos, California space and energy startup founded in 2024 by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt. It is building a constellation of small low-earth-orbit satellites that collect sunlight in space and beam the energy back to compact ground stations on Earth using infrared lasers rather than the giant geostationary microwave platforms imagined by earlier space-solar concepts. Backed by a $50 million Series A and early defense funding, the company aims to deliver electricity to places the grid cannot reach, beginning with forward operating bases, remote research stations, and disaster zones, and planned a first in-orbit power-beaming demonstration for 2026.
Baiju Bhatt co-founded Robinhood, the zero-commission trading app that put stock buying on a phone screen and made him one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the US. In 2024 he walked away from finance to chase the idea he grew up with: power and machines in orbit. His company, founded as Aetherflux and rebranded in 2026 as Cowboy Space Corporation, started by trying to beam solar energy to Earth with infrared lasers and has since aimed higher - building rockets and AI data centers that live in low Earth orbit. The son of a NASA scientist, Bhatt is a physicist and self-taught product designer who keeps picking old, stubborn problems and bringing capitalism to them.