Magdrive secures £1.4 million seed funding led by Founders Fund with participation from Entrepreneur’s First, 7percent Ventures, and Luminous Ventures.

Magdrive, a London, UK-based space startup, announced that it completed a funding round totalling £1.4 million ($1.9M).

The money was raised from investors led by Founders Fund with participation from Entrepreneur’s First, 7percent Ventures, and Luminous Ventures. The equity was complemented by a grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s public body for Research and Innovation.

Proceeds will be used to accelerate the development of an in-orbit demonstration of the Magdrive plasma thruster at their Oxfordshire-based Lab at the European Space Agency Business Incubator.

Magdrive, founded in 2019 by CEO Mark Stokes and Thomas Clayson, developed a thruster for small satellites that burns a high density propellant with 100 times the energy of a rocket so efficiently that satellites reduce the fuel needed by 90%. The company  is developing the next generation of spacecraft propulsion to revolutionise space travel with a new plasma thruster that combines both the high thrust of chemical rockets and the high efficiency of other electric thrusters, with the ability for extremely deep throttle and variable specific impulse. This allows for significantly increased satellite lifespans, for low cost constellation management.