Former Tesla engineers Jay Manley and Sam Paterson have secured a seed investment of $23 million to launch a venture that targets the power needs of the space sector, making the round one of the largest early-stage fundings in Australia’s deep-tech arena. The round also places MP Space among the most sizable deep-tech seed financings ever recorded in Australia, showing investor confidence in the nascent space-energy niche.
Before founding the Sydney-based startup in 2024, Manley spent several years developing Tesla’s residential Powerwall energy storage units, while Paterson contributed to the design of battery packs for Tesla’s electric vehicles. Their combined experience in high-energy-density systems gave them insight into the challenges of providing power beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Both engineers first cut their teeth in university-level solar race car teams, a hands-on experience that later translated into the high-performance battery expertise they now apply to orbital power.
Space Industry Challenges
Power generation and storage remain a major obstacle for missions that operate in low-Earth orbit, where solar panels must be paired with batteries to keep satellites functional during eclipses. The difficulty is amplified by the need to keep mass low while ensuring that energy reserves can sustain critical operations for months or years. Musk’s long-standing ambition to unite Tesla’s battery know-how with SpaceX’s launch capabilities created an environment where the two firms regularly exchanged material-science solutions, accelerating progress on both sides.
Collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX over the past decade created a flow of technical knowledge that helped both companies overcome material-science hurdles and scale production methods. Elon Musk frequently joined joint meetings, highlighting problems that one team had already solved and encouraging cross-learning that accelerated development on both sides.
MP Space’s Solution
MP Space designs and manufactures industrial-grade lithium-ion battery systems specifically engineered for the harsh conditions of space. The software-defined architecture lets operators reconfigure charge-discharge parameters in orbit, a capability that contributed to the battery achieving one of the highest gravimetric energy densities ever measured for a space-qualified cell.
The firm has created a modular architecture that can be adapted to a wide range of spacecraft sizes and mission profiles. By standardising components, the approach reduces manufacturing complexity and lowers unit costs, addressing a core economic barrier for satellite operators.
Manley explains that upcoming generations of spacecraft will demand more energy to support advanced payloads, higher-throughput communications, and on-board processing. The company therefore draws on technology originally developed for electric-vehicle drivetrains and grid-scale storage to meet these emerging power requirements.
Investor Backing
Backing for the venture comes from a portfolio of venture-capital firms, including Blackbird, Systemiq Capital, Seraphim Space, Speedinvest and MFV Partners. Blackbird partner Samantha Wong believes the startup has the capacity to transform the rapidly expanding space market.
Wong adds that the founders have built a strong capability in scalable battery design, citing their work on Tesla’s Powerwall as a foundation for the current effort. In under two years, the company has delivered a software-defined battery that boasts one of the highest gravimetric energy densities recorded for a space-qualified power source.
Wong recalled that back in 2023 the founders had already sensed the forthcoming impact of Starship and SpaceX’s expanded launch capacity, noting, “In 2023, when we first started kicking this around, we knew Starship, SpaceX – like this bigger story was going to happen.” She also highlighted their university roots, saying, “Jay and Sam have gone from solar race car clubs at uni to industry-leading capability in scalable battery system design, having built Tesla’s Powerwall from electrons to a $10bn businesslike.”
Lucas Bishop of Seraphim Space notes that the founders’ experience at Tesla was compelling and positions the team well to tackle two fundamental hurdles facing space operators: limited power availability and the difficulty of scaling energy solutions.
Market Opportunity
Hardware from the company has already been incorporated into the designs of more than 500 spacecraft, illustrating rapid adoption across the sector. This level of integration signals that the firm is moving quickly toward a leadership role in the niche of space-grade battery technology.
