Axiom Space Raises $350 Million in Latest Fundraising Round
By Loren Grush and Eric Johnson
Axiom Space, the Houston-based company focused on developing private space stations and human spaceflight, has raised $350 million in its most recent funding round, the company announced Monday.
The latest cash injection takes total capital raised to $505 million, according to a statement. Axiom also said it is only second to SpaceX for most money raised by a space company in 2023.
Axiom declined to comment on its exact valuation, but the company says it is valued at more than $1 billion.
The Saudi Arabian investment firm Aljazira Capital and the South Korean healthcare investment company Boryung Co. are the anchor investors for this round. “Together, we are working to serve innovators in medicine, materials science, and on-orbit infrastructure who represent billions of dollars in demand over the coming decade,” Michael Suffredini, Axiom’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Axiom is currently developing a private space station in a partnership with NASA, the first module of which is slated to launch and attach to the International Space Station as soon as 2026. Over time, the company plans to add more modules to the station, called Axiom Station, and eventually detach from the ISS. The goal is for Axiom Station to serve as a possible commercial replacement for the ISS when it is potentially retired by 2031.
The company also has an agreement with SpaceX and NASA to launch as many as four human spaceflight missions to the ISS on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, as a way to prepare for sending humans to its future commercial station.
Read more: NASA Chief Says Axiom Flight Opens ‘New Era’ for Space Agency
Two of those missions were completed successfully, while the third is slated for early 2024. Axiom holds agreements with the European Space Agency to fly both a Swedish astronaut and a Polish astronaut on upcoming missions.
Along with the capital raised, Axiom Space also has a contract with NASA worth as much as $1.26 billion to develop spacesuits astronauts can wear to walk on the moon for the space agency’s Artemis program. The guaranteed payment from this contract is $370 million, but can increase as NASA orders more suits from the company.