By Linda Cicoira
Rocket Lab, the New Zealand-based company that is planning to build a launchpad at Virginia Space and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island for its Electron rockets, announced $140 million in new funding last week.
According to the technology news site, www.newscenter.io, the company closed a Series E financing round “led by investor Future Fund, with participation from Greenspring Associates, Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC (Data Collective), Promus Ventures, and K1W1. New investor ACC also contributed to the round.”
The round brings total Rocket Lab funding on Nov. 21, “To more than $288 million, with the company now soaring past its previous $1 billion valuation.
The round also follows “the opening of Rocket Lab’s new mass production facility for the Electron vehicle, as well as the announcement confirming the location of Rocket Lab’s second orbital launch site.”
The story stated construction has begun on Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2, based within the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA Wallops Flight Facility. The plan is for monthly launches to occur there.
“Between the two Rocket Lab launch complexes, the company expects to sup-port up to 130 orbital missions per year.”
