An artist's rendering of the Nova rocket. Courtesy of Stoke Space.
Stoke Space collects $260M in Series C capital
The company started in 2020 and has approval from Space Force to bid for future launches of small payloads.
Stoke Space, a five-year-old launch startup, has captured $260 million in Series C capital to finalize the development of its fully reusable medium-lift rocket, dubbed Nova.
The company said Wednesday it will also use the new capital to complete construction of a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, plus support improvements to its manufacturing and private test facilities.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Industrious Ventures, Leitmotif, Point72 Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Woven Capital, Y Combinator and the University of Michigan are among the new and existing investors that participated in the new round.
Stoke touts having fetched $480 million in external investment since it started in 2020, including a $100 million Series B round that completed in the fall of 2023.
In July, Stoke and Blue Origin received approval from Space Force to compete for future launches of small payloads. Space Force made that move through an on-ramp process for the Orbital Services Program-4, which is part of the Rocket Systems Launch Programs.
Stoke also touts the Defense Innovation Unit, NASA and National Science Foundation as having funded the company’s technology development.
In December, Stoke test-fired its first-stage Zenith rocket engine to mark further progress in developing the two-stage Nova rocket. The second-stage engine called Hopper is under development. Both stages are designed to be reusable.