In developing its launch system, CRC said it is targeting a payload capacity of 6,500 kilograms to reach low Earth orbit, where most satellites reside. However, CRC said that it\u2019s taking a first step by designing a light-lift vehicle to meet \u201ctactical launch requirements\u201d and establish an \u201cindustrialized foundation\u201d for the medium-lift vehicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CRC was co-founded by CEO Hugh Kolias and CTO David Tenny, who bring direct orbital launch experience from the Canadian Space Agency and SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 to their new startup. The company claims its seed funding is the largest all-Canadian seed round to date for a space and defence startup.<\/p>\n
\u201cSatellites underpin modern life, from payments and power grids to transportation, weather forecasting, and secure communications,\u201d Kolias wrote in a LinkedIn post<\/a>. \u201cYet Canada relies on other nations to decide when, and whether, those systems reach orbit. That\u2019s why Canada needs sovereign launch capability.\u201d<\/p>\n The funding round was co-led by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Garage Capital, with participation from Ripple Ventures, Panache Ventures, Northside Ventures, and Cold Capital. Angel investors associated with Shopify, Wealthsimple, Ada, Humi, Inkbox, Holos, and Kepler Communications also participated in the round.<\/p>\n CRC will use the funding to hire talent, build a facility, and develop its light-lift vehicle, a spokesperson told BetaKit in an email. The startup hopes its presence brings Canadian aerospace talent back home, and is hiring for engineering and technician roles in Toronto, with some remote positions in Canada available. In a statement, Kolias said that people have been \u201cCanada\u2019s most valuable aerospace export.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: Kepler makes history with world-first launch of optical relay satellite network<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cCRC is creating a reason for experienced engineers to come home, and for the next generation to build their careers here,\u201d Kolias said.\u00a0<\/p>\n CRC plans to pursue a partnership-driven development model to localize production and build out a resilient launch supply chain. It has already partnered with five Canadian companies and suppliers, including the Indigenous-owned Eagle Flight Network, NGC Aerospace, Mission Control, Moon and Mars Industries, and Launch Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kepler co-founder and CEO Mina Mitry, whose company just used a SpaceX rocket<\/a>, sits on CRC\u2019s strategic advisory board.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCanada\u2019s satellite sector needs a domestic launch partner with both the right architecture and the right people,\u201d Mitry said in a statement. \u201cCRC is positioned to become that partner.\u201d<\/p>\n The launch of CRC follows a recent push for sovereign Canadian space and defence capabilities. The 2025 federal budget<\/a> provided the Department of National Defence with more than $182 million over three years to establish a sovereign space launch capability. It\u2019s still unclear if this funding will support a new publicly owned spaceport or lean on the commercial spaceports being built in Atlantic Canada by Nordspace<\/a> or Halifax\u2019s Maritime Launch Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n Feature image courtesy Unsplash<\/a>. Photo by NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CRC emerges from stealth with $6.2 million and a plan to give Canada sovereign rockets.
Canada\u2019s space…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[131785,49,48,174047,174052,174054,14684,83432,174048,174053,44,174051,905,174050,174049,3302],"class_list":["post-413996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-business-development-bank-of-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-rocket-company","tag-cold-capital","tag-david-tenny","tag-deep-tech","tag-defence-tech","tag-garage-capital","tag-hugh-kolias","tag-news","tag-northside-ventures","tag-ontario","tag-panache-ventures","tag-ripple-ventures","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9LYuAuk0OH3TBI7EYH4UoXJzWM-1024x215.jpg\" "\\"Canadian")
<\/a>CRC\u2019s medium-lift rocket design. Image courtesy CRC.<\/p>\n