Relativity Space

Relativity Space is a private American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone. Relativity is engaged in the development of production technologies, launch vehicles and rocket engines for commercial orbital launches.

History

2020: Attracting $500 million of investments

The manufacturer of rockets Relativity Space, the closest competitor to SpaceXilon Mask, ends the next round of attracting investments, after which it will become one of the world's most expensive private space companies with a capitalization of $2.3 billion. This became known on November 17, 2020.

Traditional rocket production - from design to launch - takes up to two years, but Relativity can "print" a finished rocket in 60 days, say startup founders Tim Ellis (worked at Blue Origin) and Jordan Nun (worked at SpaceX)^[1].

Under the leadership of the hedge fund Tiger Global Management, whose assets are estimated at more than $40 billion, the company raised about $500 million.

The company will direct the raised money to scale operations, increase personnel, as well as the purchase of materials, transport and more.

Relativity Space, through 3D printing, machine learning, and automation, tries to reduce the cost and accelerate the assembly of launch vehicles in a few days or weeks, not years.

The company has not yet launched a single rocket, but plans to launch its first mission in late 2021.

In the previous round, the company raised $140 million for the construction of a 3D rocket printing factory. This helped her finish work on Terran-1.

In October, Relativity Space signed a contract for commercial launches with NASA and Lockheed Martin^[2].

Notes