SpaceRyde
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
SpaceRyde was a Canadian launch startup founded in 2019 by husband-and-wife team Sohrab Haghighat and Saharnaz Safari. It developed an inexpensive small-lift rocket system with a novel first stage: a stratospheric balloon that lifted the three-stage Ryder rocket above 99% of the atmosphere before its engines ignited. The business model was a flat fee of about $250,000 to deliver payloads under 25 kilograms to low Earth orbit, with the rocket's third stage designed to remain in orbit as an in-space cargo and servicing vehicle. The company built its own gimbaling rocket engine and opened a 25,000-square-foot orbital-class rocket factory in Concord, Ontario, in 2022.
02 / SpaceRyde FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
SpaceRyde ran out of money. After raising about $10 million from early-stage investors and government awards, the company could not secure the additional funding it needed to begin commercial launches in 2024, as tough macroeconomic conditions made capital scarce for small launch startups. Its testing campaign was also crippled by local opposition: the municipality of Trent Hills ordered the company to halt engine tests at its Ontario lot after noise complaints drew a petition with over 800 signatures, ending development work at that site. In the CEO's own words, the problem was not lack of interest - something at the planning stage went wrong.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Sohrab Haghighat and Saharnaz Safari founded SpaceRyde in Canada to offer cheap, fast access to orbit using a balloon-launched rocket system.
- Factory opens, testing halted
SpaceRyde opened a 25,000-square-foot rocket factory in Concord, Ontario, and signed launch agreements with ISILaunch and Qosmosys. But after noise complaints drew an 800-signature petition, the municipality of Trent Hills ordered engine testing to stop, and the last engine test at the site took place in October 2022.
- Bankruptcy filing
After five years of operation, SpaceRyde filed for bankruptcy on February 10, 2023 under Section 49 of Canada's Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, with Deloitte named as trustee, ending plans for commercial launches and a 2024 demonstration mission around the Moon.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
SpaceRyde filed for bankruptcy on February 10, 2023 under Section 49 of Canada's Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, with Deloitte appointed as trustee to handle its affairs.
- 02
The company had raised about $10 million from early-stage investors and government awards but was unable to secure further funding toward commercial launches planned for 2024.
- 03
No public disclosure of realized creditor or investor losses was found; the $10 million raised is a funding figure, not a documented loss.