Chinese Rocket Firm iSpace Raises $730M
Chinese commercial rocket company iSpace has raised a record $730 million in a new funding round. The capital will be used to develop its Falcon 9 challenger rocket. The fundraising highlights the scale and ambition of China's current technology investment cycle, which spans sectors from AI to commercial spaceflight.
- The new capital is earmarked for the development and commercialization of iSpace's reusable liquid oxygen and methane rockets, specifically the Hyperbola-3. This funding will also support a "land launch, sea recovery" methodology, similar to SpaceX's Falcon 9, to enhance payload capacity and cost-effectiveness. - iSpace's Hyperbola-3 is a two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket designed to lift at least 8.5 tons to low Earth orbit in reusable mode and 13.4 tons in expendable mode. The company is targeting the maiden flight of the expendable version in 2025, with a first-stage recovery attempt planned for 2026. - This record funding round for a private Chinese space company was co-led by Cowin Capital and existing shareholder Jingming Capital, with participation from numerous other domestic investment firms. The deal comes as iSpace prepares for an IPO on mainland China's STAR Market. - The funding surge reflects intense demand within China's commercial space sector, driven by government approval for over 200,000 satellites for various constellations. Competitors like Galactic Energy and Space Pioneer also secured significant funding rounds recently, indicating a heated market. - Founded in 2016, iSpace was the first private Chinese company to reach orbit in 2019 with its solid-propellant Hyperbola-1 rocket. However, the company faced subsequent failures with this model before returning to successful launches in 2023. - The Chinese government has actively fostered this commercial space race since opening the sector to private capital in 2014. In 2024, it designated commercial space a "new growth engine," leading to increased local government investment and subsidies. The China National Space Administration recently established a new department to oversee and support the commercial space sector. - The competitive landscape in China's launch sector is crowded, with more than 500 companies in the commercial space ecosystem. Key launch competitors developing reusable rockets include LandSpace, Galactic Energy, and Space Pioneer, all vying for contracts to build out China's satellite internet infrastructure. - iSpace is developing its own liquid oxygen-methane engines, the JD-1 and JD-2, asserting that these are based on domestic technologies and offer superior reusability and lower costs compared to some international counterparts. The company successfully conducted a vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) test in November 2023.
