Stoke Space Announces New $100 Million Investment

Stoke Space, the startup that recently tested a prototype of the upper stage of a reusable rocket, has raised $100 million to continue development of this vehicle. The company announced the Series B round on 5 October with a presentation by the company's managing director Andy Lapsa at a transportation conference in Dallas. The round was led by Industrious Ventures, a venture fund that has invested in a dozen other space companies with participation from many new and existing investors.

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Stoke Space

Stoke Space, headquartered in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington, has now raised $175 million. The company did not disclose its valuation in the Series B round. The company reached a milestone in this development with a short flight of a high-end prototype called Hopper2. The 15-second flight, which took place on 17 September at Moses Lake in Washington, was the culmination of the test campaign for the vehicle, which is designed to return to Earth and land vertically for rapid reuse.

The company said the funding will also go towards the development of a launch site for the vehicle at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. In March, the Space Force allocated Launch Complex 14 to Stoke Space, which was used for the first Atlas launches, including John Glenn's historic flight in 1962. As part of the Series B round, Stoke Space added Steve Angel, chairman of industrial gas company Linde plc and advisor to Industrious Ventures, to its board of directors. In a statement, he said, "Stoke Space has a history that speaks for itself. I look forward to working with the team to support the development of a new space economy."