Impulse Space's Series D round grows to $808 million as backlog expands

(Corrects valuation in bullet 1 ‌and paragraph ​2)

By Akash ​Sriram

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Impulse Space has raised $308 million in an extension of the Series D funding round, the startup building spacecraft to move ‌satellites and other payloads said on Wednesday, as it looks ⁠to serve a backlog from commercial and government customers.

The extension valued the company at $5.4 billion, according ‌to a source close to ‌the company. SpaceX's $86 billion IPO in June has bolstered investor enthusiasm for the space sector, helping improve the fundraising environment for companies such as Impulse.

The ​extension brings Impulse's Series D financing to $808 million, following a $500 million round announced in June that valued the company at $4.26 billion.

The company also hired Vizio ⁠executive Adam Townsend as chief financial officer, as it scales production and works to turn a growing ​backlog of government and commercial contracts into revenue.

Investor demand for the round remained strong after it closed, President and Chief Operating ​Officer Eric Romo exclusively told Reuters, allowing ‌Impulse to raise more capital to expand ahead of customer demand.

Impulse, founded by SpaceX's first employee and its former propulsion chief, ⁠Tom Mueller, will use the new capital chiefly to accelerate hiring and manufacturing. It now has more than 600 employees and over 180 open roles.

"We looked at the plan ⁠and said, well, gosh, if we raise a little bit more, it'll give us confidence ​that even if a pessimistic scenario happens in the future, we can hire and be a little bit ahead of the plans from customers," Romo said.

Impulse has sold out its ‌Caravan 2 and Caravan 3 Helios rideshare missions planned for 2028 and has booked additional dedicated flights, Romo said.

"The market, ‌I think, has surprised us, if anything, to the upside as far as the ⁠reception of that product," he ‌said. "We're really full on our ​manifest for Helios. So now we need to deliver on that for those customers."

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by ‌Maju Samuel)

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