Space startup SpinLaunch is raising money again, and sources told TechCrunch that it was considering raising an even more ambitious amount earlier this year.
The company closed an $11.5 million round, out of a planned $25 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SpinLaunch confirmed the funding to TechCrunch, but declined to comment on the amount raised. The last time it raised $71 million in Series B was in 2022.
But people with knowledge of the company's plans told TechCrunch that the company began talking to investors about nine months ago and expected to raise a $350 million round at a $2 billion valuation. It is said that he was doing so. In response to questions about this funding goal, SpinLaunch CEO David Wrenn said the numbers were “highly inaccurate and misleading” and that he was “pleased with the recently completed funding.” Ta.
SpinLaunch made headlines in 2018 with its ambitious plan to build a low-cost, high-cadence dynamic launch system to replace rockets. Instead of launching a satellite vertically onto the top of a rocket, SpinLaunch's proposal is to spin the payload to high G's in a vacuum chamber before launching it into orbit.
The company makes a convincing case for its system, saying it can put satellites up to 200 kilograms into orbit for just $250,000 and can launch up to five to 10 times a day. Spinlaunch conducted 10 suborbital tests using a small accelerator at Spaceport America in New Mexico, where it has a long-term lease.
The company was considering raising such a large amount of money to essentially compete with Starlink, according to people familiar with the company's plans. The plan was first revealed in 2021 when SpinLaunch filed an application with the FCC to operate a constellation of 1,190 satellites to provide global broadband service from space. The company filed the constellation with the Federal Communications Commission in November 2021 under the name of its subsidiary SN Space Systems. The company met with FCC officials last September to discuss the application, according to a regulatory filing by Michelle McClure, SpinLaunch's former senior regulatory adviser, but it remains unclear how close the company is to approving the application. is unknown.
There are signs that the 10-year-old startup is entering a period of flux as it attempts to enter the commercialization stage. Last October, SpinLaunch welcomed two new board members, including aerospace executive Dómhnal Slattery as chairman (a new role). And in March, those board members appointed Wrenn, the company's former COO, to the CEO role previously held by SpinLaunch founder Jonathan Yaney.
In the midst of a management shake-up, the company was quietly pursuing a very small island in Alaska as the site for its first orbital accelerator. SpinLaunch signed a memorandum of intent to locate an accelerator in Adak, Alaska, about 18 months ago. The Adak City Council then sent a letter of support for the plan to the Aleut Corporation, an Alaska Native regional corporation with which SpinLaunch works. However, Adak City Manager Leighton Lockett confirmed to TechCrunch that the letter of support sent on April 17 was the “last substantive update” regarding the city's involvement with SpinLaunch or Aleut. Ta.
In his response to TechCrunch, Wrenn did not directly address the status of the satellite constellation application or plans to build an orbital accelerator at Adak. But he said the company is meeting its investment and revenue goals for this year and that the new funding will “accelerate the commercialization of our disruptive space technology and SpinLaunch's integrated suite of low-cost, sustainable space solutions.” It will help move the country forward,” he added.
SpinLaunch has grand ambitions to build massive satellite constellations and dynamic launch systems. But as is often the case in space, financing and execution are two completely different cases.