Cowboy Space Raises $275 Million for Orbital AI Data Centers

SAN CARLOS, California — May 11, 2026 — Cowboy Space Corporation has emerged under a new name, raised $275 million in Series B financing and presented a vertically integrated plan for orbital artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Formerly known as Aetherflux, the company intends to develop its own launch vehicle, solar-powered compute spacecraft and optical communications as one coordinated system.

The round was led by Index Ventures and values the company at approximately $2 billion after the investment. Cowboy Space says the capital will support rocket development, satellite manufacturing and the Stampede constellation, a proposed network designed to run high-performance computing in low Earth orbit.

One vehicle for launch, power and computing

The engineering concept combines a rocket upper stage with a megawatt-class data centre rather than carrying a conventional, separately packaged payload. Once in orbit, the stage would remain operational as computing infrastructure. The approach is intended to reduce redundant mass and give the company greater control over launch schedules, power generation and hardware deployment.

Solar energy is central to the plan. Spacecraft in suitable orbits can receive long periods of sunlight without competing for terrestrial grid connections, land or cooling water. Optical links would move selected data between the orbital system and users. Cowboy Space describes the architecture on its official technology website.

Development priorities

• Launch vehicle: develop a dedicated rocket whose upper stage also performs the computing mission.
• Stampede constellation: build solar-powered satellites for distributed orbital compute.
• Optical communications: transmit large data volumes without relying solely on radio links.
• Manufacturing: control more of the hardware supply chain and shorten deployment cycles.
• Demonstration missions: validate power transmission, communications and computing before commercial scale.

Capital for a high-risk infrastructure programme

Cowboy Space was founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood. Its earlier work concentrated on collecting solar energy in orbit and transmitting power to Earth. The company has now expanded that work into a broader infrastructure model in which energy is consumed near its source by computing equipment.

The $275 million round follows earlier external financing and gives the company resources to operate a rocket programme alongside satellite and computing development. That vertical scope may reduce dependence on third-party launch capacity, but it also adds technical, regulatory and capital requirements that conventional data-centre developers do not face.

Near-term progress will be measured through hardware tests and demonstration missions rather than the ultimate size of the proposed constellation. Relevant milestones include reliable launch systems, thermal management in vacuum, radiation-tolerant processors, optical link performance and the economics of replacing or upgrading orbital equipment.

Building infrastructure for the AI power constraint

The company is responding to long waits for grid connections in major data-centre markets and the rapid rise in electricity demand from AI workloads. Orbital computing is not a direct replacement for every terrestrial facility: latency, launch cost and maintenance remain important constraints. Cowboy Space is targeting workloads for which abundant solar power, dedicated hardware and space-based connectivity can justify those trade-offs.

The financing and rebrand move the project into a visible development phase. The company will use the new identity across rockets, spacecraft and computing products while it turns a large-scale infrastructure proposal into testable systems.

About Cowboy Space Corporation

Cowboy Space Corporation, formerly Aetherflux, is a California aerospace and computing company founded by Baiju Bhatt. It is developing integrated rockets, solar-powered satellites, orbital data centres and optical communications for AI infrastructure.