Spacecraft Manufacturer Apex Closes $200 Million Series D Round with $1-Billion Valuation

Apex, a leading spacecraft manufacturer of mass-produced productized, configurable satellite bus platforms, closed its $200-million Series D round led by Interlagos, which boosted the company’s valuation over $1 billion.

This announcement follows its Series C round that closed months ago. The latest round signals investor desire to capture even greater than anticipated global demand for large-scale low Earth orbit constellations. The funding further strengthens its ability to quickly deliver on future constellation programs.

“From day one, Apex has been about rapidly scaling satellite production to support future constellations,” said Ian Cinnamon, chief executive and co-founder of Apex, in a statement. “This new funding allows us to do exactly that by expanding our production capacity to better serve our government and commercial partners as they deploy spacecraft at scale. Whether supporting a global connectivity network or a critical national security mission like Golden Dome, Apex is ready to deliver reliable, rapidly deployable spacecraft that make these constellations possible.”

In addition to insourced avionics, power systems and others, Apex recently completed the acquisition of Phase Four’s Hall-effect Thruster technology, allowing Apex to accelerate in-house propulsion system production and de-risk a key bus subsystem.

“Apex is accelerating one of the most important shifts in the space industry today by architecting a solution for customers building modern, proliferated constellations,” said Achal Upadhyaya, founder and chief executive of Interlagos, in a statement. “Apex’s focus on production rate and scale is critical for both national security missions and high-performance commercial constellations. Our partnership with Apex started nearly three years ago. This Series D today enables us to further accelerate the business as the company expands its technical and commercial capabilities globally.”

To expand production capacity, Apex signed a lease to more than double its Los Angeles-based Factory One footprint, adding a new 55,000-square-foot facility adjacent to its existing site in Playa Vista. The company expects to expand into the new building next year.

“With over 100,000 square feet of total space, the expansion will accelerate spacecraft production by 50% while also providing room for research and development, vertical integration of strategic components, and expanded mission services and payload integration,” said Maximilian Benassi, chief technology officer and co-founder of Apex, in a statement.

Earlier this year, Apex announced Comet, its largest and most powerful satellite bus, engineered for large-scale commercial and defense constellations. Apex also celebrated the one-year-on-orbit success of its first Aries spacecraft, underscoring the reliability of its productized approach.

Information for this article was sourced from Apex.