INCUBATION PROGRAM

[ INCUBATION PROGRAM ]

Aurelia Foundry supports and empowers early-stage startups in their journey from conception, to technology demo, to becoming successful, sustainable businesses.

The Aurelia incubation program offers deep technical mentorship, microgravity and cis-lunar flight opportunities, industry-specific recruiting support, and access to a world-class aerospace and funder network.

Technical Support

  • Startups are paired with experienced mentors, industry experts, and successful entrepreneurs who provide valuable guidance and advice. These mentors offer insights into various aspects of business development, from deep tech product refinement to finding product-market fit in an emerging industry, to partnership strategy and fundraising.

  • The Aurelia Foundry incubation program offers startups access to resources they might not otherwise have, such as fabrication and prototyping space, zero-gravity flights, and legal and accounting services tuned for the particular needs of the space regulatory environment (e.g., FAA, FCC, export control/ITAR).

  • With first-hand experience operating payloads in space (Dr. Ekblaw has supported over 100 missions in microgravity, in orbit, on the moon, and one mission to Mars with JPL), we help portfolio companies navigate space industry best-practices, understand the government and defense sector, and negotiate space payload contracts with launch providers.

Incubation Support

  • We provide startups with a platform to validate their ideas, products, or services in a beta-friendly environment. Constructive feedback from our technical experts, entrepreneurship mentors and a post-IPO Executive-in-Residence help refine the startup's offerings and strategy.

  • The program provides startups with opportunities to connect with other best-in-class aerospace entrepreneurs, talent pipelines at top aerospace grad programs, investors across our extensive domestic and international networks, strategic industry partners, and potential customers.

  • The Aurelia Foundry incubation program offers ongoing support throughout the life of the company, helping founders connect with investors for subsequent funding rounds and queuing up conversations for M&A opportunities and large customer contracts when the time is right. 

[ ECOSYSTEM ]

Foundry Ecosystem

Aurelia Foundry builds on in-house Aurelia Institute expertise and the local MIT ecosystem, actively curating and spinning out companies via a venture-studio model of investment with proprietary deal flow. 

Together, the pillars of Aurelia’s research and investment ecosystem will jumpstart humanity’s metamorphosis into a space-faring species while profoundly benefitting life on Earth.

Learn more about our sister organizations, Aurelia Institute and the MIT Space Exploration Initiative, below —

Aurelia Institute

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MIT Space
Exploration Initiative

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IN SERVICE TO LIFE ON EARTH & IN SPACE

We passionately believe that solving problems with engineering rigor for the extreme environment of space will unlock exponential creativity to address difficult challenges on Earth.

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