Stoke Space has completed the initial closing of a $1 billion Series E round, aiming to reach orbit and prepare a new, larger rocket for operations.
"This round is really to scale," CEO Andy Lapsa told TechCrunch. "To lay the infrastructure, to scale in production and flight frequency, and importantly to fund the development of the second generation vehicle."
The round was led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital, with participation from General Innovation, Glade Brook Capital, US Innovation Technology, Washington Harbour Partners, Woven Capital, and Y Combinator.
Stoke is competing with SpaceX in the low-cost rocket launch market. While SpaceX's Falcon 9 is partially reusable and Starship aims for full reusability, Stoke is focused on a rocket where both the booster and second stage return to Earth for reuse. This has not been achieved before.
SpaceX has invested heavily in Starship, and Stoke has now raised a total of $2.3 billion.
Stoke's unique approach to thermal shielding involves flowing super-cooled liquid hydrogen through its system, a method Lapsa claims has been extensively tested and will be used on the first flight.
"We can flow excess coolant — more than we think we need in order to overcool the surface of the vehicle — and take a conservative stance from that perspective in early flights,"
Lapsa expects Stoke's first vehicle, the Nova Pathfinder, to fly in early 2027. The company has conducted structural and operational tests on the first stage and will proceed to test-firing each stage.
"The ground system is checked out to the extent that we can do it without the rocket, and the rocket’s checked out to the extent that we can do it without the launch pad," Lapsa said. "So the next step is to do them together."
The Nova Pathfinder is designed to carry three metric tons to low-Earth orbit, which Lapsa believes will be the largest debut vehicle from a U.S. rocket maker.
"We have multiple Pathfinder vehicles in production, and we have confidence that we will bring Pathfinder to market and into orbit regardless of this round,"
Stoke is also developing the Nova Block 2, a larger rocket capable of carrying 15 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, comparable to the Falcon 9. This vehicle is planned for deployment in 2029.
Lapsa acknowledged that the phasing out of the Falcon 9 could increase demand for launch services.
"It amplifies the mismatch between launch supply and demand for launch, there’s no question about that," he admits. "Regardless of Falcon 9 retiring or not retiring, the space industry and the space economy scales exactly as fast as rockets get off the ground, particularly rockets that serve third-party customers."
He also noted that while SpaceX's Starship may prioritize internal projects, Stoke has no plans to operate its own space assets, potentially making it more attractive to third-party launch customers.
"Now is the time to get moving [...] so that we can finally start deploying a lot of the constellations and applications that we aspire to as an industry but have been stuck on the ground,"
