US-based space launch technology developer SpinLaunch has secured $35m in funding from investors including GV and Airbus Ventures, subsidiaries of internet and technology group Alphabet and aerospace manufacturer Airbus, it announced yesterday.
Venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins and Catapult Ventures also participated in the round, along with family office Lauder Partners, Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr and the Byers Family.
SpinLaunch has created a launch system for small satellites that relies on kinetic energy which uses a large mass accelerator to push off the satellites at high speeds. It claims the system is more affordable than existing methods and can work in any weather.
The funding will go to expanding headcount, expanding the California facility SpinLaunch moved to in January 2019 and finishing work on Spaceport America, the flight test facility it is building in the state of New Mexico.
Jonathan Yaney, founder and CEO of SpinLaunch, said: “Our team at SpinLaunch greatly appreciates the continued support of this formidable syndicate of investors, who share our vision of enabling low-cost and frequent launch of imaging and communications constellations that will protect our planet and humanity.
“Later this year, we aim to change the history of space launch with the completion of our first flight test mass accelerator at Spaceport America.”
SpinLaunch said it has now raised $80m since being founded in 2014. Airbus Ventures, GV, Kleiner Perkins predecessor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lauder Partners, Starlight Ventures, ATW Partners and Bolt provided $35m of that in a mid-2018 series A round.
Regulatory filings indicate the company received just over $1m in equity financing in 2014 and $2.9m the following year.
