The rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin, is raising private equity DealBook newsletter reported on this early wednesday.
According to the publication, the company is raising $10 billion, which leads to a valuation of $130 billion. Coatue Management, a major asset manager, is expected to lead with a $4 billion commitment. Another $4 billion is expected to come from large institutional investors. Bezos will contribute an additional $2 billion.
Founded in 2000, Blue Origin strives to become a global leader in spaceflight, developing plans for super-heavy lift rockets, lunar landers and two mega-constellations. It is trying to compete in the same areas as SpaceX – space launch, telecommunications, data centers.
However, unlike SpaceX, which started with a relatively small investment from Elon Musk and later supported its operation through government and commercial contracts, private investments and loans, Blue Origin almost entirely provided Bezos with a large amount of money. He now invests several billion dollars a year in the expanding company, which has major operations in Washington, Alabama and Florida.
in March, Ars predicted Bezos is likely to take on outside investors in the near future to compete financially with SpaceX. However, the numbers reported by DealBook dwarf the $85 billion SpaceX raised in an initial public offering earlier this year and its valuation of nearly $2 trillion. Blue origin such a plan is also needed Competing with the lucrative stock options that SpaceX offers its employees.
The plans were backed off by a pad explosion
In the spring and summer of this year, multiple sources told Ars that Bezos was involved in fundraising activities for Blue Origin. However, those plans temporarily set back the company’s flagship rocket, New Glenn, in late May. exploded spectacularly in Florida and threw out the only launch pitch.
