Fresh off its $91 million Series B, Houston-based Venus Aerospace has made several key additions and promotions to its leadership team.
The company says its expanded team will help it deploy its high-thrust rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE), which completed its first U.S. flight test last summer.
"We flew the world's first high-thrust RDRE in just over four years on $80 million. We believe that makes it the fastest, most capital-efficient rocket engine program in history," Sassie Duggleby, co-founder and CEO of Venus Aerospace, said in a news release. "Adding this talent to our leadership team is how we bring that same discipline to the company itself, as we scale to meet the technical needs of defense and space customers who need range and speed legacy systems can't deliver."
The key hires include:
Lane Bodian, Vice President of Public Policy
Bodian previously served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs at the Pentagon.
Dan Rebnord, Director of Federal Government Relations
Rebnord most recently served as Senior Policy Advisor to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and previously worked in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the Department of Defense and as Staff Director for a national security subcommittee in the House of Representatives. Rebnord and Bodian will lead Venus' work with government stakeholders.
Tom Barron, Chief Operating Officer
Barron was promoted from his role as vice president of operations for Venus Aerospace. Before his time at Venus, he served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and consulted aerospace clients at McKinsey & Company. He also served as a U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces officer.
Nick Cardwell, Chief Product Officer
Cardwell was promoted from his role as vice president of research and development. He previously held product and technology leadership roles at VC-backed tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Austin.
Venus also named Cameron Taylor as its new vice president of operations, Sarah Boland Heine as its head of communications, Matt Stohr as its head of business development, and Sheila Menz as general counsel.
The company also announced a joint technology development agreement to advance the RDRE with defense giant Lockheed Martin last week. Through the partnership, Venus and Lockheed will focus on evaluating the RDRE's propulsion architecture in defense systems, specifically for precision fires applications where weapons are designed to accurately strike targets at long distances.
Lockheed Martin Ventures, the investment arm of the aerospace and defense contractor, is an investor in Venus Aerospace.
"Lockheed Martin is focused on rapidly delivering advanced capabilities that strengthen deterrence and provide decisive advantages for the warfighter," Tim Cahill, president, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a news release. "Our collaboration with Venus Aerospace allows us to evaluate a promising propulsion technology and determine how it can be integrated into future precision fires solutions. Efforts like this help accelerate innovation, reduce risk and shorten the path from emerging technology to operational capability."
Venus' RDRE is expected to enable vehicles to travel four to six times the speed of sound from a conventional runway and is about 15 percent more efficient than traditional alternatives, according to the company.
Venus says the reusable, affordable and scalable RDRE is designed with a "common propulsion architecture" that can work for multiple industries and mission types. The company has previously estimated that the hypersonic market is projected to surpass $12 billion by 2030.
