VC/PE

Ursa Major Closes $100M Series E

Ursa Major's Draper engine on the test stand. Image: Ursa Major
Ursa Major’s Draper engine on the test stand. Image: Ursa Major

Ursa Major announced on Tuesday that it had closed a $100M Series E, which will allow the propulsion company to scale its manufacturing capabilities for its hypersonic, in-space propulsion, as well as its solid-rocket-motor tech. 

Eclipse led the round, which also included participation from Woodline Partners, Principia Growth, XN, Alsop Louie Partners, and others. 

“Ursa Major is doing what few others in defense have achieved—scaling manufacturing and supply chains to deliver hypersonic systems and advanced propulsion at industrial scale,” Lior Susan, a founding partner at Eclipse, said in a statement.

Some other highlights:

  • Ursa also announced $50M on top of the Series E, in debt funding commitments. 
  • Its bookings for the first three quarters of this year totaled $115M, including contracts with DoD, AFRL, Stratolaunch, and BAE Systems.

Rewind: The Colorado-based company’s last funding update in December 2023 included $138M in funding raised that year through a Series D and D-1 extension. The month prior, Ursa announced it was expanding beyond its rocket engine business to branch into 3D printing solid rocket motors after seeing demand from DoD.

Zoom out: Since when did a nine-figure round become standard in the space industry? The past several months have seen a number of whopper fundraises, including:

  • EnduroSat with $100M+
  • Stoke Space Technologies with $510M
  • Apex Space with $400M, split between two $200M rounds.
  • Impulse Space with $300M
  • True Anomaly with $260M
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