Rocket maker Orbex has secured £40.4m in its Series C funding round - led by the Scottish National Investment Bank.
The Forres-based company says the funding will allow it to scale up ahead of its first vertical rocket launch from UK soil, and will also help it to unlock more funding for future projects.
Orbex's Prime rocket is a 19-metre long, two-stage rocket designed to transport small satellites weighing up to 180kg into low Earth orbit. It is set to launch from the Space Hub Sutherland spaceport near Tongue and is also set to be the first orbital rocket to be powered by a renewable bio-fuel.
READ MORE: Builder Cruden Group hails 23rd year of profitable trading despite tough economic environment
In August, Orbex said it was hiring an additional 50 staff over the next six months to help with rocket testing.
Orbex said its latest funding round saw a renewed commitment from existing investors BGF, Heartcore Capital, High-Tech Gründerfonds and Octopus Ventures.
As well as the Scottish National Investment Bank, other investors in this round were:
- Global technology firm Jacobs, which is NASA's largest services provider and also supports key decommissioning and remediation projects at the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness.
- The Danish Green Future Fund, a special investment fund designed to support the transition to green solutions both in Denmark and beyond. The investment will be managed on behalf of the fund by Denmark's sovereign investment fund Vækstfonden.
- Verve Ventures, a network and technology-driven venture capital firm headquartered in Switzerland that has over 140 technology and science-driven startups in its portfolio.
- British entrepreneurs Phillip and James Chambers, founders of Peakon and Hazport respectively.
Chris Larmour, CEO at Orbex: "We're delighted to have closed this new funding round led by the Scottish National Investment Bank.
"Orbex has made significant progress to get to this point, with the invention of ground-breaking, innovative technology, the rapid development and testing of the launch vehicle, the expansion of our manufacturing footprint in the UK and Denmark, the creation of the UK´s first orbital spaceport in mainland Scotland, and the growth in customers from the UK, Europe and America signing up to launch dedicated payloads with Orbex.
"These results have only been made possible by the maturity and dedication of the entire Orbex team, who bring a huge amount of skill and experience to their tasks from a wide variety of industries, launch systems and spacecraft.
"This significant new funding round is testament to the work of that team and will allow us to continue to build Orbex towards our long-term goal of establishing a reliable, economically successful and environmentally sustainable European space launch business.”
Nicola Douglas, executive director at the Scottish National Investment Bank, said: "This is a very exciting time for the Scottish space sector. With Orbex, we will have a rocket assembled in Scotland, launching from Scotland and likely transporting satellites built in Scotland into orbit.
"This investment is a great example of the Bank working with other investors to support scale-ups in Scotland and aligns with our mission to invest in innovation and the industries of the future.
"We’re building a full end-to-end commercial space ecosystem in Scotland and we’re proud to play our part in this funding round, which will help deliver jobs and prosperity for the space sector and the wider economy."
Scotland's business minister Ivan McKee said: "The Orbex Prime vehicle being built in Moray and to be launched from Space Hub Sutherland will be the first in the world powered by a renewable bio-fuel.
"I congratulate this innovative business on its latest success in raising funds, which will propel progress towards a first launch from 2023. The Scottish National Investment Bank has played a leading role and is actively enabling the transformation of Scotland’s economy by supporting entrepreneurialism and new market opportunities.
"This is another extremely important milestone in the progression of Scotland’s rapidly developing space sector and in delivering against our ambition for Scotland to become Europe’s leading space nation through providing the end-to-end solution for small satellites through design, build, launch and use of the data downstream."
Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.
