Boeing HorizonX Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of aerospace technology producer Boeing, agreed to invest $20m in US-based space exploration company Virgin Galactic, a subsidiary of conglomerate Virgin Group, on Tuesday.
The investment is dependent on Virgin Galactic successfully listing shares on the New York Stock Exchange in the fourth quarter of 2019, under a merger deal struck for that goal with special purchase acquisition vehicle Social Capital Hedosophia.
Boeing’s equity stake will comprise shares in the newly-combined entity.
Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic designs and builds reusable suborbital spacecraft intended for commercial voyages into outer space by space tourists and to help conduct scientific experiments.
Virgin Galactic has put $1bn of capital into the program to date and marked the carriage of its first non-paying passenger in February 2019 aboard its VSS Unity spacecraft, which attained Mach 3 speeds of travel.
Boeing hopes to corral Virgin’s progress towards high-speed passenger spacecraft with its own aerospace expertise, with the precise details on their collaboration due in coming months.
Virgin Galactic does not appear to have previously disclosed any equity funding, though it is expected to receive $800m from Social Capital Hedosophia under the special purchase arrangement, according to TechCrunch.
The business was in line to receive a $1bn cash injection from the Saudi Arabian government-owned Public Investment Fund before founder Richard Branson halted the partnership earlier this month in protest at the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Brian Schettler, senior managing director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures, said: “Boeing’s strategic investment facilitates our effort to drive the commercialisation of space and broaden consumer access to safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible new forms of transportation.
“Our work with Virgin Galactic, and others, will help unlock the future of space travel and high-speed mobility.”