Top 46 Space Rocket startups

Updated: Oct 09, 2026
| Add Startup
These startups are building vertical launch vehicles that deliver payload from Earth to Space and provide payload launch services.
1
Galactic Energy
Country: China | Funding: CN¥5.1B
Galactic Energy Aerospace Technology is a private aerospace company that engages in the low-cost commercial space launch business.
2
Varda Space
Country: USA | Funding: $579M
Varda is a space manufacturing startup that focuses on creating products and drugs in space for terrestrial applications. It is building a fleet of uncrewed space capsules that can function as orbital laboratories or manufacturing platforms for products whose development in space yields better efficiencies or purities than in the gravity of Earth. The company since ⁠2023 has deployed six missions to orbit with its gumdrop-shaped free-flying W-Series capsule, with all but its fourth mission successfully ​re-entering from space. It plans to debut a next-generation capsule in 2030.
3
Gilmour Space Technologies
Country: Australia | Funding: $332.6M
Gilmour Space Technologies is a space rocket company that develops low-cost hybrid launch vehicles.
4
Space One
Country: Japan | Funding: ¥4.2B
SPACE ONE is a launch services provider that uses small rockets. We will offer the world’s shortest lead time from contractual engagement to launch, as well as the world’s most frequent launching schedule.
5
Canada Rocket Company
Country: Canada | Funding: CA$14.5M
Canada Rocket Company plans to become the first Canadian company to have the capacity to launch medium-payload satellites in space, filling in a potentially important niche in Canada’s defence. The company is targeting the “the missing middle” portion of the market - its rockets will deliver medium payloads, weighing up to 6,500 kilograms
6
SpaceX
Country: USA | Funding: $37.5B
SpaceX is Elon Musk's leading space company, having achieved numerous advances in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicles, human spaceflight and satellite constellation technologies. It's the dominant global launch provider, surpassing all others in launch frequency. Its Falcon rockets launch 1-3 times per week. The company operates its own Starlink satellite constellation, which provides satellite internet worldwide. SpaceX also builds Dragon capsules for delivering human missions to the space station. It's building Starship, the largest launch vehicle in history, which aims to fully realize the company's vision of a fully reusable, cost-effective and adaptable launch vehicle. SpaceX is also developing its own spacesuit and astronaut as part of its Polaris program and human lander for lunar missions as part of the Artemis program.
7
Rocket Lab
Country: USA | Funding: $11B
Rocket Lab delivers a range of complete rocket systems and technologies for fast and low-cost payload deployment.
8
Northrop Grumman
Country: USA | Funding: $3.7B
Northrop Grumman is an aerospace, defense, and security company that offers technology and security solutions.
9
Stoke Space
Country: USA | Funding: $2.4B
Stoke Space is a developer of reusable rockets that provide access to and from any orbit to the satellite industry. It's attempting to compete with SpaceX in the low-cost rocket launch space. Its rocket where both the booster stage and the payload-carrying second stage come back to Earth so it can be reused cheaply. To shield the second stage of the rocket from the extreme heat caused when it is reentering the atmosphere, Stoke flows super-cooled liquid hydrogen through its thermal shielding, a unique active cooling solution. Stoke expects first vehicle, the Nova Pathfinder, to take flight in early 2027.
10
United Launch Alliance
Country: USA | Funding: $1.6B
United Launch Alliance manufactures and operates spacecraft that are capable of Earth orbit and deep space exploration.
Boris Maslennikov
Editor: Boris Maslennikov
Boris Maslennikov is a senior editor for Space-Startups. He has spent more than a decade covering the global space industry as a business journalist. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science from the California Institute of Technology. In his free time, Boris enjoys studying history and mathematics, with a particular interest in the history of mathematics. You can contact Boris at borismaslenikov(at)space-startups(dot)com