A start-up developed 3 years ago to produce a brand-new class of high-power satellites has actually raised $250 million to increase production at its Southern California factory.

The business, called K2, revealed the money infusion on Thursday. K2’s Series C fundraising round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with extra financing from financial investment companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. K2 has actually now raised more than $400 million given that its starting in 2022 and is on track to release its very first significant presentation objective next year, authorities stated.

K2 intends to make the most of a coming abundance of heavy- and super-heavy-lift launch capability, with SpaceX’s Starship anticipated to start releasing satellites as quickly as next year. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket released two times this year and will fly more in 2026 while engineers establish an even bigger New Glenn with extra engines and more lift ability.

Highlighting this pattern towards huge rockets are other launchers like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan, and brand-new automobiles from business like Rocket Lab, Relativity Space, and Firefly Aerospace. K2’s creators think satellites will follow a comparable development, reversing a pattern towards smaller sized spacecraft over the last few years, to resolve emerging markets like in-space computing and information processing.

Mega, then Giga

K2 is developing 2 classes of satellites— Mega and Giga— that it will construct at an 180,000-square-foot factory in Torrance, California. The business’s very first “Mega Class” satellite is called Gravitas. It is arranged to release in March 2026 on a Falcon 9 rocket. When in orbit, Gravitas will evaluate numerous systems that are basic to K2’s development technique. One is a 2o-kilowatt Hall-effect thruster that K2 states will be 4 times more effective than any such thruster flown to date. Gravitas will likewise release twin solar selections efficient in producing 20 kilowatts of power.

“Gravitas brings our complete stack together for the very first time,” stated Karan Kunjur, K2’s co-founder and CEO, in a business news release. “We are confirming the architecture in area, from high-voltage power and big solar ranges to our assistance and control algorithms, and a 20 kW Hall thruster, and we will scale based upon determined efficiency.”