BluShift Aerospace opens $1 million crowdfunding campaign, starts building next rocket
The Brunswick-based rocket company successfully launched its first rocket back in January.
Courtesy of bluShift Aerospace
Brunswick-based rocket company bluShift Aerospace recently launched a crowdfunding campaign with a goal of just over $1 million.
As of Sunday, the company had raised $278,000 of the $300,000 goal in the initial family and friends round.
BluShift, which operates out of Brunswick Landing, made headlines in January for becoming the first in Maine to launch a commercial rocket and the first in the world to launch a commercial rocket using bio-derived fuel.
Related
Founder and CEO of bluShift Aerospace Sascha Deri.
Read Article
LEWISTON “Do You Know Why Maine is a Great Place to Launch a Rocket?” is the University of Southern Maine Lewiston-Auburn Senior College’s April Food for Thought program.
Sascha Deri, founder and CEO of bluShift Aerospace in Brunswick, will explain the advantages to launching a rocket from Maine, and the many uses for small satellites in space. This presentation will be shown at 4 p.m. Friday April 16, on Zoom.
Sascha Deri
Contributed photo
Deri’s company is not only creating the rockets to launch a variety of sizes of satellites, but also powering them with sustainably-sourced bio-derived fuel. Its fuel mitigates the detrimental environmental impact that comes from traditional rocket motors.
bluShift Aerospace s Stardust 1.0 rocket, launched in Feb. 2021.
Maine rocket company bluShift Aerospace says it has raised more than $200,000 in the first phase of a crowd-sourcing campaign.
Company founder and chief executive Sascha Deri says positive reaction to the company s first launch last January convinced him to avoid big venture capital donors, for now. The fundamental reason why we really like this concept of crowd equity funding is that it really allows us to keep this company in Maine and maintain control over it, he says. By the time you get to the end, especially something that s so expensive as rocket development, by the time you get through those rounds, you end up not being an owner, and there s a very heavy push, especially in the aerospace industry, to sell your company off to a really large defense company.
In keeping with its nature as an innovative company in the “New Space” industry, Brunswick manufacturer bluShift Aerospace is opting away from conventional venture capital and angel investment for its next round of capital.
Instead, the startup is turning to crowd equity funding, which takes crowdfunding to the next level by allowing small investors to take a small equity stake in the company.
BluShift set its first goal to raise $1.07 million this way. The company will use the funds to further develop rockets using its proprietary bio-derived rocket fuel and modular hybrid engine. Longer term, it hopes to raise $5 million and create 40 aerospace jobs in five years.
Reporter s Notebook: From spooky bridges to space beer, April Fools gags proliferate in Maine mainebiz.biz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mainebiz.biz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.