Blue Origin seeks $130B valuation in first outside funding push

Blue Origin is looking to raise money from investors outside the company for the first time.

The Jeff Bezos company is aiming to raise $10 billion in a funding round that would value the rocket maker at $130 billion before the investment, according to an NYT DealBook report on Wednesday.

Coatue Management, a big asset manager, is expected to lead the round with a $4 billion commitment, the report said, adding that Bezos is set to contribute an additional $2 billion.

It is the company's first outside funding push as Blue Origin has historically been funded mainly by Bezos himself, but it is now seeking capital from external investors such as investment firms, sovereign funds, or other institutions.

Founded by Bezos in September 2000, about 18 months before Musk started SpaceX, Blue Origin has largely been funded by the Amazon founder.

The report comes as investor appetite for space companies has surged following SpaceX's IPO last month, which lifted expectations for valuations of privately held aerospace firms.

SpaceX with operations spanning rockets, satellites and AI, secured an about $1.75 trillion valuation in its public market debut, after raising about $86 billion in the world's largest IPO following years of fundraising to finance Elon Musk's AI and space ambitions.

It has secured multibillion-dollar NASA and U.S. Space Force contracts, including work on the Artemis lunar program and national security launches, but still trails SpaceX by a wide margin in launch cadence and revenue.

The major outside funding plan could give Blue Origin more money to expand projects such as rockets, space infrastructure, and lunar exploration while reducing reliance on Bezos’ personal funding.

Blue Origin remains focused on launch services, rocket engines and government space programs.

It has entered the race to build space-based AI infrastructure through Project Sunrise, a proposed constellation of up to 51,600 satellites designed to host orbital data centers, putting it in direct competition with SpaceX's similar ambitions.