Blue Origin is reportedly raising about $10 billion in its first outside funding round. The financing would value Jeff Bezos’ rocket company at about $130 billion. According to CNBC, Bezos is expected to contribute $2 billion to the round. Coatue Management is expected to invest about $4 billion, while the remaining $4 billion has seen significant demand from several major investors.
The funding round would mark a major shift for Blue Origin, which Bezos has historically funded through sales of his Amazon stock. Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 and has increasingly focused on the company since stepping down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021.
Blue Origin competes with SpaceX across several markets, including heavy-lift rockets, lunar landers, and satellite internet. The outside funding round comes shortly after SpaceX completed a blockbuster IPO that valued the company at about $2 trillion.
Blue Origin’s fundraising effort also follows a recent setback for its New Glenn rocket program. In late May, one of the company’s New Glenn rockets exploded on a Florida launchpad during a static hot-fire test.
The company is now working to reconstruct the damaged launchpad and determine the cause of the incident. Bezos and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp have set a goal of returning New Glenn to flight by the end of 2026.
New Glenn is a key part of Blue Origin’s future plans. The rocket is expected to support upcoming missions for NASA and commercial customers, including Amazon and AST SpaceMobile.
The reported financing would give Blue Origin additional capital as it works to scale operations, recover from the New Glenn test incident, and compete more aggressively in the commercial space market. Bezos said in May that the company was considering outside investment as it looked toward its next phase.
