Zero Industries Raises $3M Pre-Seed to Beam Laser Power Between Satellites

Zero Industries has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to build a laser-based power transmission service that would move solar-generated electricity between spacecraft. The company claims it's the largest publicly announced pre-seed round by a Japanese startup, based on its own review of comparable deals — a ranking nobody has independently verified.

Maezawa Fund led the round. UntroD Capital Japan, NOW, Midtown and individual investors also participated. Zero didn't disclose its valuation or the size of each check. The San Francisco-based startup, which has Japanese roots and a parent registered as a public benefit corporation in California, closed the financing roughly six months after its establishment.

What does the money actually change?

For practitioners, the short answer is engineering capacity and a validation clock. Zero plans to spend the capital hiring engineers, advancing its core technology, building prototypes and developing industrial partnerships, Chief Executive Kai Sugihara said in an interview with Automation World, which independently reported the financing. He leads the company alongside Chief Technology Officer Yusei Fujii and Chief Operating Officer Koya Tani.

The flagship product is Helios, a service with three components:

• a transmitting satellite;
• a receiver module installed on a customer's spacecraft;
• software that schedules and measures power delivery.

Zero's pitch targets a real constraint. An external power source could let satellite operators cut the mass devoted to solar arrays and batteries, freeing capacity for sensors, computers or propulsion. The initial target users are Earth-observation satellites, orbital transfer vehicles and spacecraft that inspect or service other satellites.

How far does the technology have to travel?

Quite far, and on a tight calendar. Zero says its design requirements include sending power across hundreds of kilometers and serving more than one spacecraft from a single transmitter. The company hasn't demonstrated that capability in orbit.

The near-term milestones:

• evaluating receiver components;
• a kilometer-scale outdoor power transmission test;
• tracking a moving target with combined laser beams, running from late 2026 through spring 2027.

Zero then plans to begin designing an orbital demonstrator and selecting a satellite bus in the second half of 2027. The first satellite-to-satellite power transmission demonstration is targeted for 2030, followed by commercial transmission satellites and service to initial customers. The company concedes those dates may shift based on test results, economics and manufacturing capacity.

There's a research anchor behind the roadmap. Zero is working with the Graduate School for the Creation of New Photonics Industries in Hamamatsu on receiver components, atmospheric laser propagation, safety procedures and measurement methods. The company said that team has reviewed its experimental setup and safety plan — but no independent test results for the proposed orbital system have been disclosed.

Why efficiency is the hard part

The benchmark numbers show the gap Zero has to close. In 2025, NTT and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries reported receiving 152 watts of electricity from a one-kilowatt laser sent over one kilometer in an outdoor demonstration. That's roughly 15% of the transmitted power converted into usable electricity — proof that laser power transfer works over meaningful distances, but also proof of steep losses between optical output and delivered current.

Space adds its own layer: precise tracking, heat management, radiation tolerance and long-duration operation, none of which a ground test covers.

Zero said it will judge commercial viability by the electricity customers can actually use after transmission and reception losses, equipment mass and operating costs. The $3 million buys the company a start on that validation — nothing more. Until the ground tests and the 2030 orbital demonstration happen, the core technical and economic case remains a set of company targets rather than proven physics.