Moon Express, a US-based moon landing spacecraft developer backed by design software provider Autodesk, has received $12.5m in new financing.
The company closed a $2.5m bridge round led by impact fund Minerva Capital Group and secured $10m from an undisclosed investor as part of a series B round it has begun raising with a $20m target for its close.
Founded in 2010, Moon Express was the first private company to receive US government clearance for an expedition to the Moon. It plans to use low-cost robotic exploration spacecraft to form a permanent presence and lunar prospecting base at the Moon’s south pole by 2020.
The company has licensed two blocks at the US Air Force’s Cape Canaveral space campus and will use the funding to construct facilities there. It will also support the development of lunar flight spacecraft including MX-1E, a 30-kg payload vessel first unveiled in July 2017.
Moon Express has raised $47.5m in funding altogether, having received $20m in a January 2017 series B-1 round backed by Autodesk, Founders Fund, Collaborative Fund, Social Capital and a range of private investors.
The 2017 round came after $21.5m in equity and debt financing between 2010 and 2016, according to regulatory filings, from investors reported as having included internet group Tencent.