<article>Australia&#8217;s sovereign wealth fund Future Fund has led a $140-million Series E funding round for US-based orbital launch provider Rocket Lab.</article>

Australia&#8217;s sovereign wealth fund Future Fund has led a $140-million Series E funding round for US-based orbital launch provider Rocket Lab.
Other investors in the round include existing backers Greenspring Associates, Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC (Data Collective), Promus Ventures and K1W1, and new investor ACC.
The company said it has so far raised $288 million in funding, and the new round has further reinforced its unicorn status.
Rocket Lab develops and launches rocket technology to provide rapid and repeatable access to orbit for small satellites. Proceeds from the Series E round will be used to scale up the firm’s Electron rocket production to support its targeted weekly flight rate, build additional launch pads and begin new R&amp;D programmes, said Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck.
“It has been a big year for Rocket Lab with two successful missions to orbit and another about to roll out to the pad, but it’s even more significant for the global small satellite industry that now has a fully commercial, dedicated ride to space,” he said.
Rocket Lab opened a new mass production facility for the Electron vehicle last month and has begun construction on the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2, which can support monthly orbital launches from US soil and is designed specifically to serve the space needs of government customers.
Rocket Lab said its two launch complexes can support up to 130 orbital missions per year.
“We saw proof of Rocket Lab’s transformative cost and frequency of launch just in the number of DCVC’s own next-gen ‘scale-out space’ companies enabled by Rocket Lab, let alone the hundreds more lined up for this disruptive orbital access capability,” commented Matt Ocko, managing partner at Data Collective.
Stephen Tindall, founder of K1W1, added that Rocket Lab’s contribution to the New Zealand tech sector will continue to increase as they ramp up the launch frequency. The company has become the only operational private small launch provider globally, he said.

Rocket Lab develops and launches rocket technology to provide rapid and repeatable access to orbit for small satellites. 

Australia's Future Fund leads $140m funding round for US-based Rocket Lab

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Australia's Future Fund leads $140m funding round for US-based Rocket Lab

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