Oct 2, 2024 - Business

Startup led by first SpaceX employee raises $150 million

Dan Primack

Illustration of a satellite flanked by hundred dollar bills for solar panels — Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Impulse Space, a California-based developer of orbital transfer vehicles, raised $150 million in Series B funding led by Founders Fund.

Why it matters: Impulse is led by the first employee at SpaceX, Tom Mueller, and intends to serve as a last-mile logistics provider for the satellite and payload boom that SpaceX helped enable.

Other investors include Lux Capital, Spring Tide, DCVC, Airbus Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, RTX Ventures, Tamarack Global, 137 Ventures, Elysium, First Principles Group, Island Green, Overmatch, and Trousdale Ventures.

The bottom line: Impulse is working on two different OTVs, which basically serve as space tugs — moving launched satellites into specific positions.

There are other players, but the company believes that its chemical propulsion systems allow for higher changes in velocity.

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Startup led by first SpaceX employee raises $150 million

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