Relativity's Stargate 3D printer and a fuel drum additively manufactured in three days.
Relativity Space has closed a $500m Series D equity funding round with contributions coming from more than a dozen organisations.
Led by Tiger Global Management, the round also attracted the participation of new investors like Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, ICONIQ Capital and Senator Investment Group, as well as existing investors like Tribe Capital, Playground Global and K5 Global.
The funding will be harnessed to help accelerate Relativity’s plans for a ‘factory of the future’, support launch vehicle development and make further investment in 3D printing technologies. Relativity is applying 3D printing processes to build Terran 1, an orbital rocket, with 100x fewer components than typically required in less than 60 days. It combines its application of 3D printing with artificial intelligence, proprietary software and autonomous robotics and hopes this grouping of technology pieces helps to pioneer new aerospace value chains.
More on Relativity Space:
- Relativity Space to 3D print rocket parts using sustainable materials with 6K
- Relativity Space now fully funded to launch entirely 3D printed Terran 1 rocket
- Space and time: 3D printing in the new space age
“Aerospace still relies on the same fundamental toolset it did 60 years ago when rockets were first launched to the Moon and global aviation was in full swing: giant factories full of fixed tooling, with complex supply chains and hundreds of thousands to millions of individual parts assembled one at a time by hand, using hundreds of diverse manufacturing processes,” commented Relativity co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis. “What we are building at Relativity fundamentally rewrites that tech stack.
“This past year drove change in every industry, including aerospace. Throughout 2020, Relativity achieved unprecedented growth, attracted top talent and stepped up to deliver results we could have only imagined when we started the company less than five years ago. We are on track to launch our first Terran 1 rocket to orbit next year with existing capital on our balance sheet. With this new series D funding, we will now dramatically accelerate the development of our long-term plans and look beyond first launch.”
After a busy 2020, which saw its first public US Government mission via Lockheed Martin; the completion of a fully printed Aeon 1 rocket engine Mission Duty Cycle test for 186 seconds (the full duration required for the launch of its Terran 1 first stage rocket); the expansion of its team to 230 employees; and a new 120,000 square foot headquarters in Long Beach, California, Relativity expects to launch Terran 1 in 2021.
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