--- title: Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond... description: Sapporo-based Letara, a hybrid propulsion startup spun out of Hokkaido University in 2020, raised ¥2.6 billion (~$16 million) to expand beyond small satellite... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/japanese-space-tech-startup-letara-expands-beyond-satellite-thrusters-with-16m-g8exn8npj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond satellite thrusters with $16M | daily.dev og:description: Sapporo-based Letara, a hybrid propulsion startup spun out of Hokkaido University in 2020, raised ¥2.6 billion (~$16 million) to expand beyond small satellite... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/japanese-space-tech-startup-letara-expands-beyond-satellite-thrusters-with-16m-g8exn8npj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/G8EXn8npJ.png og:image:alt: Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond satellite thrusters with $16M og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond satellite thrusters with $16M **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Sapporo-based Letara, a hybrid propulsion startup spun out of Hokkaido University in 2020, raised ¥2.6 billion (~$16 million) to expand beyond small satellite thrusters into large rocket systems for space, defense, and security markets. The round was co-led by Headline Asia, JIC Venture Growth Investment, and Incubate Fund, with strategic investors including NES Corporation, Toyoda Gosei, and Frontier Innovations. Letara's hybrid rockets separate solid fuel (plastic and rubber) from liquid oxidizer, aiming for more thrust with less waste than paraffin-based competitors. The company faces competition from Interstellar Technologies, Galactic Energy, InnoSpace, Equatorial Space, HyImpulse, and Gilmour Space, and its next milestone is an in-orbit firing test with an overseas partner. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Unastella, a South Korean rocket startup that launched from home, raises $24M](https://daily.dev/posts/unastella-a-south-korean-rocket-startup-that-launched-from-home-raises-24m-emxwc9706) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Isar Aerospace raises €270M to scale its rocket production](https://daily.dev/posts/isar-aerospace-raises-270m-to-scale-its-rocket-production-jtlasytoy) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Investors commit quarter-billion dollars to startup designing “Giga” satellites](https://daily.dev/posts/investors-commit-quarter-billion-dollars-to-startup-designing-giga-satellites-1zxolakue) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [India’s Digantara raises $50M for space-based missile defence tech](https://daily.dev/posts/india-s-digantara-raises-50m-for-space-based-missile-defence-tech-mdmckrud7) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#venture-capital](https://daily.dev/tags/venture-capital), [#space-technology](https://daily.dev/tags/space-technology) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/japanese-space-tech-startup-letara-expands-beyond-satellite-thrusters-with-16m-g8exn8npj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond satellite thrusters with $16M","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/japanese-space-tech-startup-letara-expands-beyond-satellite-thrusters-with-16m-g8exn8npj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/japanese-space-tech-startup-letara-expands-beyond-satellite-thrusters-with-16m-g8exn8npj"},"datePublished":"2026-08-22T01:07:19.935Z","dateModified":"2026-08-22T10:56:05.928Z","description":"Sapporo-based Letara, a hybrid propulsion startup spun out of Hokkaido University in 2020, raised ¥2.6 billion (~$16 million) to expand beyond small satellite...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/349088145dc40e1bd40ac923a13edc19?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/349088145dc40e1bd40ac923a13edc19?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/japanese-space-tech-startup-letara-expands-beyond-satellite-thrusters-with-16m-g8exn8npj","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"startup,venture-capital,space-technology","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond satellite thrusters with $16M"}]} ```