Letara raises ¥2.6bn (roughly $16mn) for hybrid rocket engines the law does not call explosive
Letara, a Hokkaido University spinout, has raised about ¥2.6bn, roughly $16mn, for hybrid rocket engines that use plastic as fuel and are not legally classified as explosives. Germany’s HyImpulse raised €45mn for the same approach last October.
A Japanese startup has raised about $16mn to build rocket engines that burn plastic. Letara, a spinout from Hokkaido University, closed roughly ¥2.6bn in a round co-led by Headline Asia, JIC Venture Growth Investments and Incubate Fund.
The investor list is unusually institutional for a rocket company. Japanese banks, insurers and the car parts group Toyoda Gosei all took part, alongside venture arms of SMBC and Mitsubishi UFJ.
The engineering pitch is about what the propellant is not. Hybrid engines keep solid fuel and liquid oxidiser separate, so the propellant does not qualify as an explosive, which changes how it is stored, shipped and handled.
The idea is decades old and has always...
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