WASHINGTON — Stoke Space, a startup that recently tested a prototype of the upper stage of a reusable rocket, has raised $100 million to proceed development of that vehicle.
The corporate announced the Series B round Oct. 5, tied to a presentation by the corporate’s chief executive, Andy Lapsa, at a transportation conference in Dallas. The round was led by Industrious Ventures, a enterprise fund that has invested in a dozen other space firms, with participation by several recent and existing investors.
Stoke Space, based within the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington, has now raised $175 million. The corporate didn’t disclose its valuation from the Series B round.
“This recent round of funding is a large vote of confidence in our team and the progress we’ve made,” Lapsa said in an announcement in regards to the round. “We are going to now proceed moving through our development program by increasing give attention to our reusable first stage.”
The corporate achieved a milestone in that development with a temporary flight by an upper stage prototype called Hopper2. That 15-second flight at Moses Lake, Washington, on Sept. 17 was the culmination of a test campaign for the vehicle, which is designed to return to Earth and land vertically for rapid reuse.
In an interview after the flight, Lapsa said that the corporate would now turn its attention to the vehicle’s reusable first stage. “We must always see things coming together pretty quickly,” he said of its development, which might enable full-scale orbital flight tests. “Our internal goal is 2025. I believe there are opportunities to speed up things even in comparison with that. We’re working as fast as we are able to.”
The corporate said the funding would also go towards development of a launch site for the vehicle at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. In March, the Space Force allocated Launch Complex 14, a pad utilized by early Atlas launches that included John Glenn’s historic 1962 flight, to Stoke Space.
As a part of the Series B round, Stoke Space added Steve Angel, chairman of the board of business gas company Linde plc and an adviser to Industrious Ventures, to its board. “Stoke Space has a track record that speaks for itself,” he said in an announcement. “I look ahead to working alongside the team with the intention to support the event of a brand new space economy.”
Stoke Space used the funding announcement to reveal the name of the launch vehicle it’s working on: Nova. “Our vehicle designs construct on the ideas and achievements of prior generations. The name Nova is a technique to honor that past heritage while waiting for a really exciting future,” Lapsa said within the statement.