Stoke Space Technologies has completed the initial closing of a billion-dollar Series E financing round, bringing total capital raised by the reusable rocket company to $2.3 billion.
The funding will support preparations for Stoke’s first orbital launch, expansion of manufacturing and launch capacity, and development of its larger Nova Block 2 launch vehicle.
The Series E was co-led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital, with participation from General Innovation, Glade Brook Capital, US Innovation Technology, Washington Harbour Partners, Woven Capital, Y Combinator and other new and existing investors.
Stoke is developing fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicles with the goal of lowering launch costs while increasing flight frequency and available launch capacity.
The financing will advance the company’s core reusability technologies along with the manufacturing, testing, launch and recovery infrastructure needed to support higher-cadence operations.
Stoke’s Nova Pathfinder vehicle is approaching its first flight and is intended to carry payloads to orbit while demonstrating the architecture, reusability technologies and operational capabilities that will support the broader Nova platform.
The company is targeting early 2027 for Pathfinder’s first orbital launch.
Stoke is simultaneously developing a larger vehicle in response to demand for more launch capacity and greater flexibility for larger missions.
The Nova Block 2 is designed to deliver 15 metric tons to low Earth orbit using a five-meter payload fairing.
Its first launch is targeted for 2029, after which Stoke intends to ramp production and flight cadence.
Block 2 will incorporate the architecture and technologies being demonstrated through Pathfinder, enabling Stoke to use the earlier vehicle as a path toward validating the most difficult elements of its reusable system before scaling capacity.
Stoke’s broader objective is to develop launch vehicles capable of rapid turnaround and high-frequency operation for a variety of commercial and government missions.
The company’s technology development has received support from organizations including NASA, the U.S. Space Force, the Defense Innovation Unit and the National Science Foundation.
KEY QUOTES:
“Stoke is pursuing what we see as one of the most important opportunities in space transportation: making launch fully reusable, reliable, and scalable. Having supported Stoke through multiple stages of its growth, we believe this company has demonstrated both the exceptional technical progress and the ambition to build a launch system capable of serving the market at industrial scale. That progress has strengthened our conviction in the team. We are proud to support Stoke as it moves toward flight and high-cadence operations.”
Chris Morales, Partner at Point72 Ventures
“Every mature transportation system is built around fully reusable vehicles. It’s the only way to reach the cost floor while scaling availability. Space transportation will be no different. We are humbled by the trust our investors and customers have placed in us in pursuit of this critical generational challenge. This investment enables us to scale toward delivering the capability and cadence our customers require.”
Andy Lapsa, Co-Founder and CEO of Stoke
“Full reusability is the inevitable end state of the market, providing an order-of-magnitude cost and service advantage over partially reusable rockets. Stoke had the right thesis seven years ago and has paired that prescient vision with a blistering pace of execution. As a result, they stand uniquely positioned to give customers more choice and capacity when they need it, and to unlock an enormous new economy in space.”
Clay Fisher, General Partner at Spark Capital
“Nova Pathfinder is how we turn the promise of Nova into flight-proven capability. Pathfinder allows us to learn quickly, reduce risk, and prove the hardest parts of a fully reusable architecture in flight. Nova Block 2 scales those lessons into the capacity and cadence our customers are asking for. This investment allows us to move with urgency on both and brings us closer to delivering payloads to any orbit at any time.”
Andy Lapsa, Co-Founder and CEO of Stoke
