Pale Blue Closes $10M Series C with Mitsubishi Electric CVC
70 FOMOUniversity of Tokyo spin-out Pale Blue completed a ~$10M Series C (¥1.5bn), receiving its first investment from Mitsubishi Electric's ME Innovation Fund. Mitsubishi Electric makes and operates satellites — making this a strategic CVC play positioning Pale Blue as a preferred propulsion partner. Other investors include aStart, Nissay Capital, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, and Itochu Technology Ventures. Total raised to date reaches approximately $30M.
Why it matters
Mitsubishi Electric integrating water thrusters into its own satellite programs would be a commercial home run for Pale Blue. The CVC structure means customer-investor alignment — Mitsubishi doesn't invest in propulsion startups out of financial altruism.
The numbers
Details
Funding
- Amount
- $10M
- Round
- series c plus
- Lead investors
- Mitsubishi Electric ME Innovation Fund
- Announced
- 2025-08-07
Coverage
-
spacenews.com ·
Pale Blue teams up with Mitsubishi Electric to advance water propulsionPale Blue completes $10M Series C with Mitsubishi Electric's CVC fund, bringing total raised to ~$30M. The strategic investment is expected to lead to deeper technical collaboration on satellite propulsion. CEO Jun Asakawa notes talks with launch providers about bundled propulsion solutions.
More from Pale Blue
- Pale Blue · Milestone 61
Pale Blue Advances to Phase 2 of MEXT SBIR-3 Debris Mitigation Grant
- Pale Blue · Milestone 73
Pale Blue Awarded Up to $27M MEXT Grant for Water Thruster Debris Mitigation
Related moments
- CubeCab · Funding 50
CubeCab submits DOE STTR Phase II application
- Manastu Space · Funding 63
Manastu Space Raises $3M Seed for Green Satellite Propulsion
- Portal Space Systems · Funding 84
Portal Space Systems Raises $50M Series A for Solar Thermal Propulsion Scale-Up
- Bellatrix Aerospace · Funding 78
Bellatrix Aerospace Raises $20M Pre-Series B for In-Space Propulsion Scale-Up
- CubeCab · Publication 45
CubeCab releases nuclear thermal launch vehicle governance white paper
- CubeCab · Publication 60
CubeCab presents nuclear thermal rocketry paper at NETS 2025
Veenie.Space Telemetry
University of Tokyo spin-out Pale Blue completed a ~$10M Series C (¥1.5bn), receiving its first inve