Relativity Space Closes
$500M Series D Financing as it Solidifies
Sector-Leading Momentum
November 23, 2020
Relativity Space has closed
a $500 million Series D equity funding round.
The round was led by Tiger Global Management
with participation from new investors Fidelity
Management & Research Company LLC, Baillie
Gifford, ICONIQ Capital, General Catalyst, XN,
Senator Investment Group, and Elad Gil. Existing
investors participating in the round include
BOND, Tribe Capital, K5 Global, 3L, Playground
Global, Mark Cuban, Spencer Rascoff, and Allen &
Company LLC, among others. The Series D equity
funding validates Relativity’s sector-leading
momentum across commercial execution, technical
milestones, and talent growth. The funding will
enable Relativity to accelerate its planned
initiatives, including its factory of the
future, launch vehicle development, and 3D
printing technologies as it builds toward
humanity’s multiplanetary future.
“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,” shared Tim Ellis, Relativity’s
co-founder and CEO. “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.”
Disrupting 60 years of
aerospace, Relativity’s radically simplified
supply chain enables the company to build its
orbital rocket, Terran 1, with 100x fewer parts
in less than 60 days. By fusing 3D printing,
artificial intelligence, proprietary software,
and autonomous robotics, Relativity’s team is
creating an entirely new value chain for
aerospace, starting with orbital launch.
Over the past year, the
company achieved pioneering milestones
including:
First public U.S.
Government mission via Lockheed Martin’s
selection of Relativity to launch a cryogenic
fluid management mission as part of its NASA
Tipping Point contract
Announced Iridium as
Relativity’s fifth commercial launch customer,
with a contract to deliver up to six Iridium
NEXT constellation ground spares on dedicated
launches to LEO
New, expanded customer
contracts with Spaceflight Industries, the
leading satellite rideshare and mission
management provider, to launch Spaceflight’s
dedicated smallsat rideshares and Momentus, the
provider of in-space last mile delivery
services, to launch their small and medium
satellite customers to GEO, MEO, low
inclination, and multi-insertion orbits; these
add to existing launch contracts with Telesat,
the renowned global satellite operator, to
support their LEO constellation and mu Space,
the innovative Thai satellite and space
technology company, to launch their first LEO
satellite
Commenced the flight prints
and began production of the first Terran 1
orbital rocket, on track for launch next year
from Cape Canaveral
Developed, commissioned,
and operated Relativity’s third generation
Stargate printers, the world’s largest metal 3D
printers, with uninterrupted and safe operation
through the COVID pandemic
Upgraded the Terran 1
rocket payload fairing to 3 meters, increasing
available payload volume by 2x the previous
design, and upgraded the Aeon 1 engine from
17,000 to 23,000 pounds of thrust in a high
performance liquid methane and liquid oxygen gas
generator engine cycle
Successfully completed a
fully printed Aeon 1 rocket engine Mission Duty
Cycle (MDC) test for 186 seconds of the 23,000
pound thrust engine, the full duration required
for the launch of its Terran 1 first stage
rocket. This followed the first integrated
engine testing by just 56 days, a tremendous
accomplishment validating Relativity’s rapid
iteration and software-driven 3D printing
approach. The company has now completed over 400
hotfire tests
A new 120,000 sq. ft. Long
Beach, California headquarters, the foundation
for the company’s factory of the future and
development activities, alongside expanded
locations at NASA Stennis Space Center and Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station
A landmark Right of Entry
with the US Air Force’s 30th Space Wing for
development of a rocket launch site at
Vandenberg Air Force Base. This site, along with
receipt of Relativity’s Site License at Cape
Canaveral LC-16, provide bi-coastal launch
capabilities and offer Relativity's customers
access to a complete range of orbital
inclinations
Team expansion to more than
230 employees with unrivaled talent; included
recent executive leadership hires Muhammad
Shahzad (Chief Financial Officer), Zach Dunn
(SVP Engineering & Manufacturing), Caryn
Schenewerk (VP Regulatory & Government Affairs),
and Karin Kuo (VP People). The company’s
presence now reaches across the nation including
its Los Angeles area headquarters and factory,
Mississippi test site, Florida launch site,
California launch site, Seattle development
office, and Washington DC government affairs
office
Relativity is well on its
way to launching the world’s first entirely 3D
printed rocket to orbit, only the first step in
a long-term vision to upgrade humanity’s
industrial base on Earth and build one on Mars.
“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,” shared Tim Ellis.
“What we are building at Relativity
fundamentally rewrites that tech stack. At its
heart, 3D printing is an automation technology,
one that transforms physical complexity into
software by stitching many components together.
The compounding rate of improvement and
iteration possible through our disruptive
approach will be unlike anything seen before. If
we are going to live on Mars, it is inevitable
that this factory of the future must exist to
build humanity’s industrial base once there. At
Relativity, we look forward to furthering an
iconic new technology to build the future of
humanity in space, faster.”
In connection with the
Series D financing, Allen & Company LLC served
as Relativity Space’s financial advisor, and
Fenwick & West LLP served as Relativity Space’s
legal advisor.