Tau secures $20 M to begin space radiation testing with DARPA, NASA

01 May 2025

Funding intended to enable Texas company’s “first” commercial laser plasma accelerator.

Tau is building compact particle accelerators and X-ray free-electron lasers.

Tau Systems, a developer of compact laser-plasma accelerators, has announced that it has raised another $20 million in extended seed funding – taking its total funding raised so far to $35 million.

Tau is an Austin, Texas-based company commercializing compact particle accelerators and specialized X-ray free-electron lasers that combine the capabilities of large accelerators with a smaller.

The round was led by Quantonation, with participation from Tau’s original seed investor, Team Global. Other participating parties include Alumni Ventures, Impact Ventures, UT Seed Fund and a group of private investors.

Tau stated that the new investment will enable the company “to open the doors of the first privately owned and operated laser-particle accelerator in Carlsbad, California, and to begin work with its first customer – an [unnamed] major satellite manufacturing company.”

Focusing on radiation testing for space electronics

The proposed Tau Labs center will be available to commercial customers and public institutions, with first applications focusing on radiation testing for space electronics using high power laser, electron-, or x-ray beams.

Bjorn Manuel Hegelich, Tau’s CEO and Founder, commented, “With the launch of Tau Labs in Carlsbad, CA, our first private laser accelerator center, we can now offer beamtime-as-a-service specifically tailored for space radiation testing, as well as x-ray imaging, metrology, and medical research.

“Our laser-driven accelerator technology enables precise, repeatable, and customizable radiation environments that help aerospace companies, satellite developers, and defense agencies and space centers, such as DARPA and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to validate and harden their systems.”

William Zeng, Partner at Quantonation, said, “Tau’s team has deep scientific know-how that builds for customers today in space radiation, and can grow to solve civilization-level challenges in next generation semiconductor manufacturing.” Team Global’s Lukasz Gadowski added, “Laser plasma accelerators hold vast potential to spark new industries and advance human scientific discovery.”

The funding will also support the company’s upcoming research programs with academic and industry partners including DARPA and NASA’s JPL, laying the groundwork for use cases in radiation-testing-as-a-service, semiconductor metrology, biomedical imaging, and materials testing.