Blackrock Values ‘Space Carpool’ Startup Loft Orbital at $550 Million

Rendering of the YAM-4 spacecraft bus by Blue Canyon Technologies for Loft Orbital. Image provided by Business Wire

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Commercial space startups have had a mixed track record as investment prospects: While shares in space tourism outfit Virgin Galactic have doubled in two years, satellite internet provider OneWeb ended up in bankruptcy court last year. Even after that bumpy ride, investors are still keen on the sector, which they see as a way to bet on the next generation of big-data and internet-connectivity companies.

Loft Orbital Solutions is one of the latest to try to cash in on this groundswell of investor interest. The four-year-old startup, which sells room on its satellites to companies like Honeywell, is raising a Series B funding round that could value it at $550 million after the new investment, according to a person familiar with the deal and fundraising documents seen by The Information. That valuation is despite Loft’s revenue last year of just $5.5 million, which its expenses dwarfed.