Stoke Space raises $510 million

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Stoke Space, a company developing a fully reusable launch vehicle, has raised $510 million to fund operations through its first launches, bringing its total capital raised to nearly $1 billion.

Stoke Space announced Oct. 8 that it raised $510 million in a Series D round led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), with participation from several other investors. The company also secured a $100 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank.

The Series D round comes less than nine months after the company raised $260 million in a Series C round. The new funding brings Stoke’s total capital raised to $990 million.

The company said the new funding will accelerate development of its Nova rocket, a medium-lift vehicle whose first and second stages are both designed for reuse, and expand production capacity.

“This funding gives us the runway to complete development and demonstrate Nova through its first flights,” Andy Lapsa, Stoke’s chief executive, said in a statement announcing the funding round.

Since the Series C round in January, the company has made progress on both stages of Nova, performing full mission duty-cycle test firings of “flight-like” engines for them. It has also been working to convert Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for use by Nova.

Stoke said it expects to complete work on the launch complex early next year but has not disclosed a projected date for the first Nova launch.

Another major milestone came in March, when the U.S. Space Force selected Nova, along with Rocket Lab’s Neutron, for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 contract. They joined Blue Origin, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance on the contract, intended for missions with less demanding requirements than Lane 2.

Nova, designed to carry 3,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit when both stages are reused and 7,000 kilograms when expended, is intended to fill a gap between smaller vehicles capable of placing up to one metric ton into orbit and larger vehicles like Falcon 9 and Vulcan Centaur. The rocket’s reusable upper stage also enables applications such as in-space mobility and returning cargo from orbit.

“We’ve designed Nova to address a real gap in launch capacity, and the National Security Space Launch award, along with our substantial manifest of contracted commercial launches, affirms that need,” Lapsa said.

USIT, which led the round and is a new investor, describes itself as a fund that invests in companies “with critical technologies relevant to the national interest,” such as Stoke’s development of a reusable launcher.

“Launch capacity is now a defining factor in the U.S.’s ability to compete and lead in the space economy,” Thomas Tull, USIT’s chairman, said in the statement. “Stoke’s pioneering approach to reusable launch systems directly advances our national security and commercial access to orbit. Their vision for resilient, high-frequency launch operations is the kind of innovation essential to maintaining leadership in the space industry.”

Other new investors in the Series D round include Washington Harbour Partners LP and General Innovation Capital Partners. Existing investors that participated include 776, Breakthrough Energy, Glade Brook Capital, Industrious Ventures, NFX, Sparta Group, Toyota Ventures and Woven Capital.

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