As SpaceX counts down to what could be the largest initial public offering (IPO) In history, the race to build the next generation of launch vehicles is heating up. Asia wants to participate. Startups from Australia, India, Japan and South Korea are racing to establish themselves in a market long dominated by the United States and China.
one of them is Dreamera four-year-old South Korean startup that just closed a $24 million Series B, bringing its total funding to $44 million. The company launched its own rocket, the Una Express-I, from South Korean soil in May 2025.
The Seoul-based rocket startup is developing its own launch vehicles and engines, initially focusing on small satellite launch services. Unastella’s near-term focus is to validate its technology and business model through orbital launches, with crewed suborbital spaceflight as a longer-term goal, founder and CEO Jae Park told TechCrunch.
Unastella uses a kerosene and liquid oxygen propulsion system, one of the most tested combinations in rocket history and which also uses SpaceX Falcon series. In addition to that, the company changed the traditional turbo pump for a electric motor pumpa simpler and cheaper alternative that Rocket Lab has already validated in flight.
The trade-off is the payload. Electric motor pumps are heavier, which means less space for satellites. But Park said it’s a deliberate decision.
“We’re not an R&D group trying to build the most impressive rocket,” Park said. “We are a commercial launch company trying to get to market quickly.”
Park also notes that Unastella handles everything in-house, including design, manufacturing, ground operations and flight data. The launch of UNA EXPRESS-I last year was the first real-world test of the entire end-to-end system, Park said.
The CEO has dedicated his entire career to working on rocket engines. Before founding Unastella, Park worked on combustion systems for Korea’s Nuri rocket, the country’s first indigenously developed orbital launch vehicle, built by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). He then moved to the German Aerospace Center in Berlin to work on European launch vehicle engines and returned to Korea to join another rocket startup before deciding to build his own.
Unastella is not yet generating revenue, but investors appear to be backing the startup’s roadmap. Altos Ventures led the Series B, along with Korea Development Bank, Strong Ventures and Hana Ventures, among others.
AN EXPRESS-II, scheduled for later this year, is the launch Park is really gearing up toward. Reaching 100 kilometers would mark an important milestone, which he believes will open the door to partnerships with South Korea’s leading aerospace and defense companies.
The 22-person startup has already laid the groundwork and developed institutional relationships. Korea’s national space agency has transported components on UNA EXPRESS-I, and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has transferred electric motor pump technology to the company.
Unastella is not alone in the race to access the global space launch market, which was worth approximately $15 billion in 2023. By 2030, it is expected to nearly triple to $41 billion, according to Grand View Research.
South Korea’s commercial launch sector is still in its early stages, but it is already taking shape.
Hanwha Aerospace, the country’s largest defense conglomerate, took over the government-built Nuri rocket last year after acquiring all technological rights to KARI. Two startups are also competing: Innospace, which is listed on the Korean Stock Exchange and has carried out a suborbital launch, and Perigee Aerospace, which is developing its Blue Whale rocket. None have yet achieved a commercial orbital launch. South Korea’s space agency, KASA, established in 2024, has committed $266 million over seven years to build launch infrastructure, a sign that the government is betting on the private sector to take the lead.
The competition extends far beyond Korea. In Asia, China leads the pack: Galactic Energy, LandSpace and iSpace have all made multiple launches. The Japanese H3 rocket, developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi, completed its first successful launch in 2024, while startup Interstellar Technologies is building its own small vehicle. In Australia, Gilmour Space attempted its first orbital launch this year. And then there’s Rocket Lab, founded in New Zealand and now listed on Nasdaq, which remains the only company founded in Asia to have built a commercially viable launch business.
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