Velontra

Avinash Sukhwani and Joel Darin looked at the space launch industry—billions of dollars, decades of "we'll figure it out next year" promises—and said "nah, we're doing horizontal takeoff from anywhere in any weather." Velontra is building a hypersonic space plane that doesn't need a launch pad, doesn't need perfect weather, and doesn't need to be refueling in the middle of the ocean. Their air-breathing propulsion system is up to 6 times more fuel efficient than traditional rockets because it scoops oxygen from the atmosphere instead of carrying it all onboard. That's thousands of pounds of extra payload capacity that translates directly into money.

The space launch market is projected to hit $20 billion by 2030 and everyone's still playing the "which rocket will explode first" game. Velontra's horizontal takeoff approach means they can launch from Cincinnati—yes, Cincinnati—in any weather, hit any orbit, and do it more reliably than anything currently flying. They already have millions in government and commercial contracts with LOIs in hand. This isn't sci-fi. It's happening from Ohio.

Avinash brought the strategy from BCG and Rocket Internet with degrees from Cambridge, MIT, and Imperial College London. Joel rounds out a team of industry veterans who've been in the trenches of aerospace for years. They're not asking permission to build the future of access to space—they're just building it from the Midwest.