US-based space mining company Moon Express has received $20m in series B-1 funding from investors including design software provider Autodesk.
The round was filled out by new and existing investors including venture capital firms Founders Fund, Collaborative Fund and Social Capital as well as a range of private investors.
Founded in 2010, Moon Express became the first private company to receive permission from the US government to visit the moon, in July 2016, and it intends to send the spacecraft is has been developing, the MX-1E, there by the end of this year.
Should the company reach the moon, it will win the $20m grand prize in internet technology provider Google’s Lunar X-Prize, awarded to the first team to place a craft on the moon, travel 500 metres and transmit high-definition images and video back to Earth.
Moon Express received $1.25m from Google in 2015 as part of the contest and has now raised approximately $45m in total from investors reportedly including internet group Tencent.
Bob Richards, CEO of Moon Express, told Space News it plans to raise an additional $10m as a contingency plan and to finance additional missions.
Richards added that the latest funding will be used to double its 23-strong team, while additional capital will support business operations, product testing and development, and launch costs, according to TechCrunch.
– Image courtesy of Moon Express