VCs invest $75m in US-New Zealand aerospace player

Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and New Zealand’s K1W1 also took part in the round along with one undisclosed investor. It brings Rocket Lab’s total funding to date to $148 million and is said to value the company at more than $1 billion.

The capital will be used primarily to scale up production of the company’s Electron rocket, which will be used to launch small imaging and communications satellites. Target clients will provide services such as crop monitoring, weather reporting, internet from space, natural disaster prediction, maritime data and search and rescue support. Groups already signed up as customers include NASA, Moon Express and Planet, a high-altitude imaging specialist backed by Data Collective and other VCs.

Rocket Lab is also expected to expand its recruiting activities and further develop its presence in New Zealand, where Electron test launches are set to begin within the next two months. The test facility is considered the world’s first private, orbital launch site and was planned in a remote location to reduce air traffic impediments for missions to the most commercially viable range of orbits.

"Currently, small satellite companies wait years to get on orbit, often at the mercy and schedules of larger payloads – and at extortionate costs," Matt Ocko, managing partner at Data Collective, said in a statement. "With Rocket Lab, this huge backlog now has access to a high-frequency, quality launch service that will take customers where they want to go, when they want to fly. The commercial and humanitarian applications this will open up are endless, and it should unleash a torrent of financing for space innovation."

According to Sapere Research Group, the rocket launch industry could contribute between $600 million and $1.5 billion of added value to New Zealand over a 20-year period. Last year, the New Zealand government announced a new regulatory regime aimed at advancing the local space industry and identified Rocket Lab as a key player in the development plan. 

Recent venture capital activity in space-related businesses includes a $35 million funding round for Singapore’s Astroscale, a company that aims to use new technologies to remove hazardous debris from low earth orbit. The company has received backing from Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), Jafco and Mistletoe.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• North America
• Technology
• Support services
• Expansion
• New Zealand
• USA
• Bessemer Venture Partners
• Khosla Ventures
• Growth capital
• Venture