Stoke Space said to be raising as much as $500 million in private investment capital
Stoke’s Nova rocket, designed to be
completely reusable.
According to anonymous sources, the rocket startup Stoke Space is in the process of raising as much as $500 million in private investment capital, with new $2 billion valuation for the company.
Stoke Space, one of the Seattle area’s up-and-coming space startups, is said to be raising hundreds of millions of dollars in a funding round that it hasn’t yet publicly acknowledged. A report about the round, based on two unidentified sources, was published today by The Information.
The Information quoted its sources as saying that the funding round could total as much as $500 million, and would value Stoke at nearly $2 billion. That figure would be roughly twice as much as the $944 million valuation that was cited by Pitchbook as of January. The round’s lead investor is said to be Thomas Tull’s United States Innovative Technology Fund.
Earlier this year Stoke raised $260 million, bringing its available capital to almost a half billion. If this story is confirmed, it means the company will have almost a billion in available cash on hand.
The design of Stoke’s Nova rocket is unique in that both the lower and upper stages will be reusable. The first stage will land vertically, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The upper stage meanwhile uses a radical nozzle design, a ring of tiny nozzles around the perimeter of a heat shield, to protect it during re-entry.
The company has said it plans the first launch in 2026, but has not been more specific as to when. If successful, this rocket will certainly become a major player, as it will be able to offer even lower prices than SpaceX because none of the rocket will be expendable.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Stoke’s Nova rocket, designed to be
completely reusable.
According to anonymous sources, the rocket startup Stoke Space is in the process of raising as much as $500 million in private investment capital, with new $2 billion valuation for the company.
Stoke Space, one of the Seattle area’s up-and-coming space startups, is said to be raising hundreds of millions of dollars in a funding round that it hasn’t yet publicly acknowledged. A report about the round, based on two unidentified sources, was published today by The Information.
The Information quoted its sources as saying that the funding round could total as much as $500 million, and would value Stoke at nearly $2 billion. That figure would be roughly twice as much as the $944 million valuation that was cited by Pitchbook as of January. The round’s lead investor is said to be Thomas Tull’s United States Innovative Technology Fund.
Earlier this year Stoke raised $260 million, bringing its available capital to almost a half billion. If this story is confirmed, it means the company will have almost a billion in available cash on hand.
The design of Stoke’s Nova rocket is unique in that both the lower and upper stages will be reusable. The first stage will land vertically, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The upper stage meanwhile uses a radical nozzle design, a ring of tiny nozzles around the perimeter of a heat shield, to protect it during re-entry.
The company has said it plans the first launch in 2026, but has not been more specific as to when. If successful, this rocket will certainly become a major player, as it will be able to offer even lower prices than SpaceX because none of the rocket will be expendable.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
This is very exciting news about a very exciting launch vehicle. I hope this helps get them into operation as soon as possible.
“If successful, this rocket will certainly become a major player, as it will be able to offer even lower prices than SpaceX because none of the rocket will be expendable.”
Well, possibly. I have not heard any preojected price points from Stoke yet. Theoretically, this *should* result in low operational costs. On the other hand, they certainly would need to make as much of their development costs back as possible. (This is why SpaceX prices its launches well above their actual launch costs right now, after all.) Likewise, SpaceX is going to have a fully reusable launch vehicle before too long, too!
And on the gripping hand, Stoke probably *will* have to consider making their initial price as low as possible, because SpaceX will have certain advantages that Stoke will not possess for a while: a long track record of extreme reliability, more payload mass and volume capability, and high frequency of launch. Price will be the only factor Stoke can leverage.
Stay tuned!
The level of craftsmanship is what impresses me.
Just for funsies…. could their whole launch vehicle fit inside Starship?
That first stage I could see left in place on Mars or Titan for off-world launches.
Starship is a bit unwieldy.
Richard M,
Up to whatever Nova’s maximum payload mass to a given orbit or BEO trajectory turns out to be, it seems likely to be the first vehicle – besides Starship – that can actually play scratch golf against Falcon 9. That’s quite a big deal. And if, as rumored, Stoke soon has a 10-figure bank account, it will be in roughly the same cash position as Relativity was a couple of years back but with a much lower burn rate. That should allow Stoke to weather any development-phase mishaps and get to reliable operations quickly. After that, with the right pricing, cadence should rise with equal alacrity. 2026 and 2027 are looking to be significant years for non-SpaceX reusable rocketry.
Jeff Wright,
Good workmanship is pretty much a minimum ante for serious rocketeers. The only NewSpace firm to deprecate that is Astra – ’nuff said. Good workmanship is simply one of the indispensable bases for frequent and high-reliability launches. It’s necessary, but not sufficient as the mathematicians say. Blue, for example, also makes very pretty hardware, but it doesn’t fly much. Stoke, I have high hopes, will fly both frequently and well in addition to looking good while doing so.
As with Starship, I don’t think there would be any need for Nova first stages to support future launch ops from Mars or Titan. The Nova second stage should be able to land and take off again from either place once refueling infrastructure exists.
Starship is not unwieldy, it’s just big. Not the same thing.