Stoke Space Is Raising $1 Billion to Fund Flagship Nova Rocket

(Bloomberg) — Stoke Space Technologies Inc. is raising $1 billion to accelerate development and production of a fully reusable rocket to challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX, people familiar with the matter said.

The closely held startup is raising money at a valuation of around $9 billion, excluding the new funds, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Stoke aims to close the round this month, the people said.

Founded in 2019 by former engineers from Jeff Bezos-backed rocket maker Blue Origin LLC, Stoke has been working toward getting its Nova rocket ready for its debut launch. As is the case with SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Nova is designed to be reusable. But Stoke is aiming to recover the entire vehicle after each flight, which Falcon isn’t designed to do.

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Some of Stoke Space’s earlier investors include the Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Glade Brook Capital and Toyota Ventures.

The latest funding round comes after Stoke raised $860 million in an extended Series D that closed in February. The Kent, Washington-based company said then it had raised $1.34 billion to date.

If successful, the new round would catapult Stoke ahead of competitor Relativity Space, which boasted a $4.2 billion valuation in 2021 prior to debuting its first spacecraft. Relativity later faced problems with its 3D-printed rocket technology.

The Falcon 9 is partially reusable, with SpaceX saving the rocket’s first stage after each mission. Numerous rocket companies are developing Falcon competitors amid a capacity crunch in the global launch market.

No rocket operator has yet achieved full reusability. Musk’s company is striving toward that goal with its massive Starship, but has yet to recover the entire vehicle intact.

In order to recover its full Nova rocket, Stoke Space has been developing a new type of heat shield that uses liquid cooling to protect the vehicle from piping hot plasma when it comes back from space and plunges through the atmosphere. Stoke says its heat shield will not need much refurbishment between flights, allowing each Nova to fly again quickly.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket relies on hexagonal ceramic tiles to keep the vehicle intact during the fall through the atmosphere. Although outside experts have raised questions about that heat shield’s capability, Musk said during the company’s recent earnings call that he believes that Starship’s heat shield design has been “solved.”