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After operating in near-total secrecy for more than eighteen months, Israeli startup Moonshot Space is emerging with an ambition rarely seen outside government laboratories. The company is developing a high-power electromagnetic launcher designed to propel objects to hypersonic speeds using electricity rather than chemical propellants, a technology it believes could reshape both orbital logistics and the global race for hypersonic capabilities.
Moonshot has raised $12 million to date, led by Angular Ventures, including a $1 million grant from the Israel Innovation Authority. Founded in 2024, the company brings together a senior group of industry, defense, and government veterans: Hilla Haddad Chmelnik, former Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Science and a member of the Iron Dome development team; Fred Simon, co-founder of the software unicorn JFrog; Shahar Bahiri, co-founder of Valerann, a smart-mobility AI company.
They are joined by an executive lineup that includes Gil Eilam, former chief system engineer for the David’s Sling missile-defense system; Ran Livne, former CEO of the Ramon Foundation and head of Israel’s second astronaut mission; and Alon Ushpiz, former Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to India. Moonshot’s 32-person team operates primarily from Caesarea, where construction of the company’s first accelerator is underway.
Moonshot Space collaborates with Technion engineers and leverages research in advanced electromagnetic acceleration developed at the Technion to help design its cutting-edge launch systems.