bluShift's story began more than a decade ago, when founder Sascha Deri started developing a bio-derived rocket fuel and testing early engine designs on his farm in Maine.

Since then, we've grown from those early experiments into a rocket propulsion company developing MAREVL, our family of hybrid rocket engines. We've completed more than 275 engine tests, demonstrated more than 20,000 pounds of thrust, and successfully launched Stardust 1.0 in 2021.Our technology development has also been supported through work with NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Space Force.

Today, we're applying what we've learned over more than a decade of building and testing rocket engines to a growing need in aerospace and defense. MAREVL is designed to deliver the performance these applications require while reducing many of the manufacturing, storage, and logistics challenges associated with traditional solid rocket motors.

We're now focused on bringing that technology into customer applications and building the capabilities needed to produce it at a larger scale.

Demand for rocket motors is growing across hypersonic testing, missile defense, and other advanced aerospace programs. Meeting that demand requires not only more motors, but the ability to manufacture them reliably and increase production as programs scale.

Traditional solid rocket motors rely on explosive propellants, which require specialized manufacturing facilities, munitions-rated storage and transportation, extensive safety measures, and significant capital investment. Adding production capacity can therefore be costly and time-consuming.

For programs that depend on frequent testing, limited motor availability can affect how quickly new systems can be developed and validated.

The challenge is increasing propulsion capacity without adding the same manufacturing, storage, and logistics requirements that constrain production today.

That's where MAREVL offers a different approach.

One of the advantages of bluShift's propulsion technology is that our solid fuel is non-explosive. That changes what is required to manufacture it.

Traditional solid rocket motor production requires specialized facilities and equipment designed to safely handle explosive propellants. Our fuel can be produced using much simpler, modular equipment.

Approximately $15K vs. ~$1.5M

Our fuel-production equipment is designed to cost approximately 1/100th as much as comparable legacy solid-motor production equipment.*

This allows us to approach production differently. As demand grows, we can add modular production cells to increase capacity rather than making a large upfront investment in specialized solid-propellant manufacturing infrastructure.

For bluShift, that means we can expand production incrementally as customer demand grows.

bluShift has developed and tested its propulsion technology since 2014. Over that time, we've progressed from early engine designs to full-duration MAREVL testing and flight.

275+ Engine tests completed

20,000+ lbs. Thrust demonstrated

Full-Duration Testing MAREVL hot-fire tests completed

2021 Successful Stardust 1.0 launch

TRL 6 Technology maturity cited in company fundraising materials

NASA + U.S. AIR FORCE + U.S. SPACE FORCE Government-supported technology development

Since the Stardust 1.0 launch in 2021, our engineering team has continued advancing MAREVL through engine testing, new configurations, vehicle engineering, and improvements to our test infrastructure. That work is now moving into customer applications and the manufacturing capabilities needed to support them.

bluShift was founded to expand access to space, and suborbital flight remains an important part of our long-term plans.

As MAREVL has developed, we've identified a more immediate opportunity to bring the propulsion technology itself to market. Defense and hypersonic programs need greater access to rocket motors, and many of the characteristics we’ve developed into MAREVL long-term storage, simpler logistics, throttle control, and a more scalable approach to manufacturing- are relevant to those needs.

This gives us the opportunity to pursue revenue from propulsion systems and customer programs while continuing to develop our own vehicles and suborbital capabilities.

By commercializing MAREVL first, we can focus near-term resources on an existing propulsion need while continuing to build toward bluShift's broader space mission.

bluShift's propulsion work with a U.S.-based hypersonics company supporting work for the DoW, is now underway.

Our teams have completed the formal kickoff and begun the engineering work, including reviewing initial engine performance findings and defining the scope of a full feasibility study. That study will evaluate how our propulsion can support the company’s mission requirements and help define the development work ahead.

The agreement includes base requirements and priced options that, if exercised and funded, we anticipate could represent more than $3 million in potential subcontract value.

Through this work, we're applying MAREVL to a specific customer application in hypersonic testing and targets while continuing to advance the engine technology toward commercial use.

We're also pursuing additional opportunities with U.S. defense, government, and commercial aerospace customers where MAREVL could address propulsion needs.

One of our current engineering priorities is MAREVL 400, a new nominal 15-inch engine that gives our team a more efficient platform for development, testing, and iteration.

The smaller engine gives our team a more efficient platform for testing and iteration, with lower costs and shorter development cycles than our larger MAREVL 600 engine. We'll also use that engine for hypersonic testing, powered by our larger suborbital space research vehicle, Starless Rogue. We'll incorporate what we learn from MAREVL 400 directly into the larger MAREVL 600 engine.

MAREVL 400 recently completed its first preliminary design review, and the team is continuing the engineering work required to move toward hardware procurement, build, and testing.

We're also running trajectory simulations across different engine sizes and mission profiles. That work helped lead us to the nominal 15-inch configuration and is informing potential applications ranging from hypersonic testing to suborbital research.

We're also using MAREVL 400 as the basis for the next generation of Stardust, our suborbital research vehicle.

Early development of Stardust 2.0 is now underway, including preliminary airframe design and trajectory simulations. The new vehicle is expected to be larger and more powerful than Stardust 1.0.

Based on our current simulations, the MAREVL 400 configuration could support suborbital flight, giving researchers a significantly lower-cost option for space research. That will ultimately depend on demonstrated engine performance, the final vehicle design, payload weight, and the results of further engineering and testing.

Stardust 2.0 is still early in development, but it lets us apply the same propulsion technology we're developing for customer applications to our longer-term plans for suborbital research.

We're developing MAREVL as a family of engines that can be adapted to different vehicles and mission requirements. Our current work focuses on applications where hybrid propulsion can offer a practical advantage.

Hypersonic Testing & Defense

Our near-term commercial focus is defense and hypersonic testing, where increased demand for rocket motors has created a need for additional propulsion capacity.

Suborbital Research

We're also developing MAREVL for bluShift's own suborbital vehicles. Stardust 2.0 is intended to support future research, science, testing, and technology-demonstration missions for commercial, academic, and government customers at a fraction of the cost of sending research up with a Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin suborbital flight.

Additional Aerospace Applications

As the MAREVL family develops, we expect to evaluate additional aerospace applications where long-term storage, throttle control, simpler handling, and scalable production could be useful.

Our business model is centered on commercializing MAREVL both as a propulsion system for customers and, over time, as the propulsion technology behind our own flight services.

Rocket Engines & Boosters

Our near-term focus is supplying MAREVL propulsion systems for defense and aerospace customers, including applications such as hypersonic test vehicles.

Engineering & Integration

Customer programs can also generate revenue through engineering and integration work required to adapt MAREVL to specific vehicles, missions, and performance requirements.

Suborbital Flight Services

As Stardust 2.0 and our suborbital capabilities develop, we plan to offer dedicated flights for research, testing, and technology demonstration.

These revenue paths are built around the same underlying MAREVL technology, allowing the engineering and manufacturing capabilities we develop for customer propulsion programs to also support our future flight services.

Aerospace is expensive, and bluShift has always had to be thoughtful about where and how we spend our capital.

Over the past decade, we've raised approximately $6.7M in private capital and non-dilutive contracts. That capital has helped us develop our propulsion technology, complete more than 275 engine tests, build test infrastructure, launch Stardust 1.0, and continue advancing MAREVL.

Working within real constraints has influenced how we approach engineering and manufacturing. We look for ways to simplify systems, use existing infrastructure where we can, and design for a path to production that doesn't require enormous capital investment at every step.

You can see that approach in MAREVL itself. Our non-explosive fuel reduces the need for specialized infrastructure, and our modular fuel-production equipment is designed to let us add manufacturing capacity incrementally as demand grows.

We've built bluShift by making the most of the resources we have, proving things through testing, and investing in the capabilities that move the technology forward. That's the same approach we're bringing to commercialization.

The Maine Technology Institute (MTI) selected bluShift for a $2 million patient loan to support manufacturing equipment, test infrastructure, and expansion.

The funding requires matching private capital, which means investments in this round can help us access additional funding to support the next stage of commercialization. The loan also includes favorable terms and the potential for partial forgiveness if certain conditions are met.

As we move toward production, we're funding that growth through a combination of private investment, non-dilutive funding, customer-funded development, and ultimately commercial revenue.

This capital will help us continue building and testing MAREVL, expand the infrastructure needed to manufacture it, and move customer programs forward.

This round will help fund the work required to move MAREVL toward customer applications and production, while continuing to advance our longer-term plans for suborbital flight.

Funds are expected to support:

Build and Test the Next MAREVL Engines

Continue engineering, building, and testing MAREVL as we improve performance and prepare the technology for customer applications.

Integrate MAREVL With Customer Vehicles

Work directly with customers to adapt our propulsion systems to their vehicles and mission requirements, including hypersonic applications.

Prepare for Production

Add the equipment, tooling, and manufacturing processes we need to produce MAREVL engines more consistently and at greater volume.

Expand Our Test Capabilities

Continue improving our test site and infrastructure so we can build and test engines more efficiently as the program grows.

Grow Our Customer Pipeline

Continue pursuing opportunities with defense, government, and commercial aerospace customers.

Keep Moving Toward Suborbital Flight

Advance FAA licensing, Stardust 2.0, and the vehicle development needed for future suborbital research missions.

Over the next stage of development, our focus is moving MAREVL into customer applications and toward repeatable production while continuing the work behind bluShift's future suborbital flights.

bluShift is based at Brunswick Landing, the former Brunswick Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine. The location gives us access to the space and infrastructure we need to build and test rocket engines while keeping our operating costs lower than they would be in many traditional aerospace hubs.

Our test site lets the engineering team develop and fire MAREVL here in Maine, and we're continuing to improve the surrounding infrastructure. Plans are currently moving forward for a dedicated workshop at the test site, which will allow more of the team's engineering, assembly, and testing work to happen in one location.

bluShift is led by a team spanning entrepreneurship, propulsion engineering, manufacturing, testing, finance, and field operations.

Sascha Deri, Founder & CEO A four-time technology entrepreneur with more than 27 years of experience leading technology ventures and the founder behind bluShift's original propulsion vision.

David Hayrikyan, CTO More than 15 years of propulsion and manufacturing engineering experience across aerospace and medical applications.

Seabren Reeves, CFO More than 20 years of finance and technology experience.

The broader engineering team brings hands-on experience in mechanical engineering, propulsion testing, aerospace systems, manufacturing, integration, marine systems, and field operations.

bluShift's advisors bring experience from organizations and disciplines including:

1. NASA
2. Air Force Research Laboratory
3. SpaceX
4. Rocket Lab
5. Hybrid rocket propulsion
6. Defense technology
7. Commercial aerospace
8. Space security

That network gives bluShift access to people who understand not only how aerospace technology is engineered, but what it takes to qualify, commercialize, and deploy it.

bluShift has been developing hybrid propulsion for more than a decade, but the market around the technology has changed significantly.

Demand for rocket motors is growing as defense programs increase investment in hypersonic testing and other advanced systems, while existing propulsion supply remains constrained. Adding traditional solid rocket motor capacity can require significant time, capital, and specialized infrastructure.

That creates an opportunity for alternatives that can be produced and scaled differently.

At the same time, MAREVL is much further along than it was when bluShift began. We've spent years building and testing the technology, demonstrated more than 20,000 pounds of thrust, and are now moving MAREVL into commercial customer work. .

The combination of growing demand, limited existing capacity, and a propulsion system that is moving closer to commercial use is why we believe this is an important time for bluShift.

We've built and flown hardware, developed MAREVL through hundreds of tests, and created a path to bring our propulsion technology into defense and commercial aerospace applications.

More than 1,500 investors have already chosen to be part of bluShift, and we're grateful to have a community that believes in what we're building.

There's still a lot of work ahead, and we're excited about where it can take us.

If you'd like to be part of the next stage of bluShift's growth, we invite you to invest.