WASHINGTON — Rocket propulsion startup Ursa Main introduced Nov. 30 it has raised $138 million in Sequence D and D-1 funding rounds.
Buyers embrace Explorer 1 Fund and Eclipse, RTX Ventures, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Exor Ventures, Mack & Co., XN and different institutional shareholders.
Based mostly in Berthoud, Colorado, Ursa Main manufactures liquid engines for small area launchers and hypersonic automobiles, and just lately introduced plans to broaden into strong rocket motors.
An preliminary Sequence D spherical was accomplished earlier this 12 months. However Ursa Main mentioned it prolonged fundraising to incorporate a Sequence D-1 spherical “attributable to robust curiosity in accelerating growth on a number of future packages.”
Investing in strong rocket motors
The corporate needs to spend money on its new strong rocket motor program, “whereas scaling manufacturing capability and advancing a number of propulsion packages,” Ursa Main CEO and founder Joe Laurienti mentioned in a information launch. “This funding will assist scaling our manufacturing capability to fulfill robust market demand, in addition to continued expertise innovation for our medium- and heavy-weight propulsion programs.”
Ursa Main mentioned it has redesigned and hot-fired the 50,000-pound-thrust Ripley engine, scaled manufacturing of the 5,000-pound-thrust Hadley engine to a fee of 1 per week, and certified Hadley for area launch, in-space, and hypersonic missions.
“Ursa Main propulsion programs fill a essential hole within the protection industrial base immediately,” mentioned Greg Reichow, accomplice at Eclipse and former vice chairman of manufacturing at Tesla.
The corporate over the previous 12 months has gained U.S. Air Power Analysis Laboratory contracts to assist the event of two of the corporate’s rocket engines.
