ABL Space Systems, a US-based satellite launch vehicle developer backed by aerospace and defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin, expanded its series B round to $370m yesterday.
The $200m extension was provided by undisclosed existing investors and valued the company at $2.4bn. The first $170m came from participants including investment and financial services group Fidelity and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price in March this year at a $1.3bn valuation.
Founded in 2017, ABL is developing launch vehicles designed to put small satellites into space at relatively low cost. It claims to have active contracts with 14 customers across the defence, intelligence, commercial and science sectors.
Proceeds from the round will be used to expand production of the company’s RS1 launch vehicle in preparation of its product launch, and support research and development activities. It said its overall funding now stands at $420m.
Lockheed Martin’s corporate venturing arm, Lockheed Martin Ventures, participated in a $49m round for ABL in March 2020 that was led by venture capital firm Venrock and which also featured Lynett Capital and New Science Ventures, Lockheed Martin having invested an undisclosed sum in mid-2019.
ABL’s co-founder and president, Dan Piemont, told SpaceNews: “We have received large orders for RS1 and will need to scale faster than we previously planned to meet the demand.
“Our investors have seen the incredible demand for RS1 and want to make sure we have all the resources we need to serve it. We updated our operating plan accordingly, and you will see that in the form of more launch sites, more facilities, more machines and larger production crews next year.”
Photo courtesy of ABL Space Systems.
