Asteroid mining startup Karman+ has secured $20 million in seed funding to develop technology that extracts and utilizes resources from near-Earth asteroids. The round was led by Plural and Hummingbird, with participation from HCVC, Kevin Mahaffey (Lookout), and angel investors, including co-founder Teun van den Dries. The funds will be directed toward its first technology demonstration mission and planned customer missions set for 2027.
Founded by Teun van den Dries (CEO) and Daynan Crull (Mission Architect), Karman+ is on a mission to lower the cost of space resources and fuel the growing space economy. By developing scalable, cost-effective solutions, the company hopes to supply vital materials for in-orbit refueling, research, and manufacturing.
The emerging space economy is projected to grow into a multi-trillion-dollar market, supporting everything from satellite communications and defense intelligence to space-based manufacturing. However, sustained growth hinges on affordable access to essential materials.
Existing asteroid return missions—such as NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa 1 & 2—have successfully retrieved samples, but at prohibitive costs. The OSIRIS-REx mission, for example, cost $1.3 billion to return just 121 grams of material—an astronomical $10.7 billion per kilogram.
“Karman+ is on a mission to make commercial asteroid mining a reality with scalable low-cost missions,” the company stated. By reducing the cost of resource delivery by several orders of magnitude, Karman+ seeks to reshape how materials are sourced for space operations.
Karman+ is developing autonomous excavation technology to extract regolith (loose surface material) from asteroids and harvest water for in-orbit refueling. Water can be directly used as propellant or split into hydrogen and oxygen, eliminating the need for costly Earth-launched fuel. This innovation could reduce satellite refueling costs by up to 10 times.
The company’s first demonstration mission, High Frontier, aims to validate its approach by deploying technology for optical navigation, asteroid mapping, and zero-gravity excavation. Leveraging a 'COTS+' (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) approach, Karman+ repurposes existing industrial components, adapting them for space. This strategy keeps mission costs under $10 million, making asteroid mining more viable.
Beyond refueling, Karman+ envisions asteroid-based In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) to power a new wave of in-orbit manufacturing—from pharmaceuticals to semiconductor production. Long-term, the company seeks to offload manufacturing from Earth, reducing environmental impact and paving the way for human expansion beyond our planet.
Unlike many private space ventures that operate in secrecy, Karman+ embraces an open innovation model, collaborating with global space agencies and sharing real-time mission updates. This transparency creates valuable industry feedback loops and enhances technological progress.
“The idea of mining asteroids has moved out of science fiction and academic research into a commercial market opportunity,” said Teun van den Dries, CEO of Karman+. “We believe the Regolith Age, powered by abundant space resources, is an inevitability that we can accelerate.”
Investors backing Karman+ believe the company is positioned to break down barriers in space resource extraction and accelerate the development of a sustainable off-Earth economy.
Sten Tamkivi, Partner at Plural, highlighted the significance of this investment: “Teun and Daynan are ripping up the space rulebook... tapping into a great need: supplying water and fuel to existing space programs.”
Barend van den Brande, Partner at Hummingbird, added, “Karman+ is going to open up asteroid mining and provide the means to support the space economy... The founders have an impressive track record and the momentum to make an impact.”
With a strong investor lineup and a vision for scalable space resource extraction, Karman+ is taking a bold step toward reshaping the way materials are sourced for the growing space economy.
