Cowboy Space raises $275 million to launch AI data centers on brand-new rocket

Cowboy Space Corp. has raised $275 million for a satellite "stampede" ahead of its first planned launch later this year.

The company itself isn't new, but its name is; Cowboy Space was previously known as Aetherflux. The newly rebranded outfit will use the $275 million — a round of "Series B" funding led by Index Ventures — to launch solar-powered AI data centers to orbit.

Cowboy Space plans to do this with a homegrown rocket whose upper stage also serves as a data center — meaning the rocket stage and the data center will be a one-piece deal, acting as a 1-megawatt hub once in orbit.

That engineering is needed, Cowboy officials said in a May 11 statement, to get the company's planned constellation of satellites, called Stampede, swiftly into orbit to meet worldwide demand for AI computing. (The number of satellites in the planned constellation was not disclosed.) The company also plans to own its manufacturing chain and to have "dedicated launch sites" to speed up launches as much as possible.

"Earth's energy grid can't run at the pace of AI. We can," Cowboy officials said via X on May 11. "AI is driving the largest infrastructure build-out in recent history, and the power grid on planet Earth can't keep pace. In major US markets, average grid connection lead times for new data centers can run five to seven years, or more. Meanwhile, AI demand is flat-out outgrowing Earth's pastures."

The company was established in 2024 by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt as Aetherflux and originally focused on space-based solar power. Aetherflux raised its first round of external funding, a $50 million Series A, about a year ago.

Engineers on the team have come from a variety of space-facing entities, such as SpaceX, Astranis, Kuiper and NVIDIA (which is providing an AI-focused chip platform for Cowboy). Bhatt, who also serves as Cowboy's CEO, stated in the release that the company's proposal is "a first-principles departure from the traditional [satellite] constellation model."

But before getting there, Cowboy, which is based in San Carlos, California, needs to launch its first satellite. That should happen later this year, if all goes to plan, to demonstrate the company's ability to beam power from space to Earth. A second mission, scheduled for 2027, would include a cluster of satellites to do high-speed (optical, or laser) communications. Then, Cowboy's first rocket would launch in 2028.