Canada’s space race has a new contender that’s looking to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign rocket launches.
Toronto-based Canada Rocket Company (CRC) emerged from stealth on Friday with $6.2 million CAD in seed funding from entirely Canadian investors, supporting its mission to deliver sovereign, medium-lift space launch capability.
“Canada relies on other nations to decide when, and whether, [satellites] reach orbit. That’s why Canada needs sovereign launch capability.”
Without medium-lift launch capacity, Canada cannot independently launch, place, or maintain complex spacecraft, like satellites, at scale, CRC said in a statement. An example of a medium-lift launch vehicle would be SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which recently carried Toronto-based Kepler Communications’ satellites to space, and will soon do the same with satellites from Markham, Ont.-based Nordspace.
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’s taking a first step by designing a light-lift vehicle to meet “tactical launch requirements” and establish an “industrialized foundation” for the medium-lift vehicle.
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’s 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.
“Satellites underpin modern life, from payments and power grids to transportation, weather forecasting, and secure communications,” Kolias wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Yet Canada relies on other nations to decide when, and whether, those systems reach orbit. That’s why Canada needs sovereign launch capability.”
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.
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 “Canada’s most valuable aerospace export.”
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“CRC is creating a reason for experienced engineers to come home, and for the next generation to build their careers here,” Kolias said.
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.
Kepler co-founder and CEO Mina Mitry, whose company just used a SpaceX rocket, sits on CRC’s strategic advisory board.
“Canada’s satellite sector needs a domestic launch partner with both the right architecture and the right people,” Mitry said in a statement. “CRC is positioned to become that partner.”
The launch of CRC follows a recent push for sovereign Canadian space and defence capabilities. The 2025 federal budget provided the Department of National Defence with more than $182 million over three years to establish a sovereign space launch capability. It’s 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 or Halifax’s Maritime Launch Services.