Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is seeking to raise $10 billion in its first-ever outside funding round, with a pre-money valuation of $130 billion. This information comes from reports by the New York Times DealBook and CNA, citing anonymous sources. Bezos has historically been the sole financial backer of the company since its founding in September 2000, about 18 months before Elon Musk started SpaceX.
The funding round is anticipated to be led by Coatue Management, which is expected to commit approximately $4 billion. Additionally, Jeff Bezos plans to personally invest another $2 billion, with the remaining $4 billion expected to come from large institutional investors. The strong interest from these investors for the final portion of the raise has been noted by CNBC.
This capital raise follows a period of challenges for Blue Origin, including the New Glenn program placing a communications satellite into the wrong orbit, destroying the payload, and a ground test in May that resulted in an explosion of a New Glenn rocket. Despite these setbacks and a reported burn rate of nearly $5 billion per year, the company plans to resume launch operations before the end of the year. Analysts suggest the recent explosion, which destroyed a $100 million to $150 million rocket and damaged a $1 billion launch facility, could impact Blue Origin's valuation or the scope of the fundraising, though Bezos had expressed confidence in the company's financial future as recently as May.
The move to seek outside investment comes at a time of increased investor interest in space companies, particularly after SpaceX's recent initial public offering, which valued Elon Musk's company at approximately $1.75 trillion. While Blue Origin has secured significant contracts from NASA and the U.S. Space Force, including roles in the Artemis lunar program, it remains significantly behind SpaceX in both launch frequency and revenue. Unlike SpaceX's substantial revenue from its Starlink satellite internet operation, Blue Origin has focused on launch services, rocket engines, and government space programs, though it has introduced TeraWave, a satellite communications network, and Project Sunrise, a proposed constellation for orbital data centers, signaling ambitions in the satellite internet and space-based AI infrastructure markets.
Dave Limp, Blue Origin's CEO, reportedly discussed the possibility of external fundraising at an all-hands meeting, linking it to plans for increasing launch cadence and not ruling out a future IPO. However, a public offering seems unlikely in the near term given the recent operational challenges. Any capital raise is expected to be limited to institutional investors, with retail investors likely to gain exposure only through funds or investment vehicles.
