Sierra Space, a Louisville, CO-based pureplay commercial space company, raised $290M in Series B funding.
The round, which brought total funding to $1.7 billion and valued the company at $5.3 Billion, was led by MUFG Bank, Kanematsu, and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, Japan’s largest property and casualty insurance group with participation from existing investors. The companies are already participating in a JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) study to explore how to conduct activities in LEO as the ISS approaches the end of service.
The company intends to use the funds to deploy the commercial space station, accelerate growth of the national security business. and scale the space systems and components portfolio.
Led by CEO Tom Vice, Sierra Space is building an end-to-end business and technology platform in space. It aims to enable space transportation with Dream Chaser®, a commercial spaceplane, and is bringing LIFE™ (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) to Low Earth Orbit with its modular, three-story commercial habitation and science platform. The company also builds and delivers a host of systems and subsystems across solar power, mechanics and motion control, environmental control, life support, propulsion and thermal control, offering myriad space-as-a-service solutions for the new space economy.
The Dream Chaser is capable of transporting crew and cargo to and from LEO and facilitating a 1.5 low-g landing on compatible commercial runways around the world. It is backed by a NASA contract to perform cargo resupply missions to the ISS and – in conjunction with the company’s Space Technologies business – contributes to $3.4 billion in active contracts.