Stoke Space closes $510M Series D financing round
A Stoke-built rocket undergoing a second-stage manufacturing demonstration. Stoke photo via Business Wire
By
Ross Wilkers
The five-year-old company is pushing to both further iterate its Nova rocket and complete a new launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Stoke Space, the five-year-old launch systems maker that closed a $260 million Series C round in January, has almost doubled that amount in a new Series D capital raise to support its manufacturing capacity expansion push.
Thomas Tull’s U.S. Innovative Technology Fund led the $510 million Series D round for Stoke, which also has secured access to a $100 million debt facility led by the First Citizens BancShares-owned Silicon Valley Bank.
Washington Harbour Partners and General Innovation Capital are among the newest investors in Stoke, the company said Wednesday. Existing investors returning to the fold include 776, Breakthrough Energy, Glade Brook Capital, Industrious Ventures, NFX, Sparta Group, Toyota Ventures and Woven Capital.
Stoke is best known in the market for its Nova rocket, which the company designed as a fully reusable offering for medium-lift launches by both government and commercial entities. Nova’s touted mission sets include deployments of satellite constellations, in-space mobility, downmass.
The Series C capital’s purpose was to support first- and second-stage testing of engine configurations and new structural qualifications for Nova.
With the Series D investment, Stoke will look to further iterate the rocket and move on completing a new launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Stoke is eyeing early 2026 as when it intends to activate that complex.
Stoke’s new capital raise follows its selection in the spring for a portion of phase number three in Space Force’s National Security Space Launch program, through which the company is eligible to compete for up to $5.6 billion in contracts through June 2029.
“This funding gives us the runway to complete development and demonstrate Nova through its first flights,” Andy Lapsa, Stoke’s co-founder and CEO, said in a release. “We’ve designed Nova to address a real gap in launch capacity, and the National Security Space Launch award, along with our substantial manifest of contracted commercial launches, affirms that need. The fresh support from our investors and government partners enables our team to remain laser focused on bringing Nova’s unique capabilities to market.”
Stoke will also use the new investment to expand its Boltline software toolset used for hardware engineering and supply chains.