Blue Origin reportedly raising up to $10B in first private capital round

Blue Origin is raising private capital for the first time in its history, according to the DealBook newsletter. The round is targeting $10 billion at a $130 billion valuation, with Coatue Management reported to lead a $4 billion commitment, another $4 billion from large institutional investors, and $2 billion from founder Jeff Bezos.

Blue Origin shifts from sole Bezos funding. Founded in 2000, the company has subsisted almost entirely on Bezos' largesse, with the Amazon founder now investing several billion dollars a year. It operates major facilities in Washington, Alabama, and Florida while developing super heavy lift rockets, lunar landers, and two megaconstellations.

The fundraising comes as Blue Origin seeks to compete directly with SpaceX in launch, telecommunications, and data centers from space. Unlike SpaceX, which grew through government and commercial contracts, private investment, and loans after an initial small investment from Elon Musk, Blue Origin has relied solely on Bezos until now.

New Glenn explosion delayed plans. Multiple sources told Ars Technica that Bezos was involved in fundraising activities during the spring and summer. Those plans were set back on May 28 when the New Glenn rocket exploded in Florida and destroyed its only launch pad.

Bezos and CEO Dave Limp have since moved rapidly to clean up the site and begin rebuilding. Bezos has publicly stated he intends to return New Glenn to flight before the end of this year, though most industry observers believe a 12-month timeline is more realistic.

Ambitions require massive capital. New Glenn serves as the backbone for lunar cargo and crew delivery to NASA and commercial partners, as well as providing pricing competition to SpaceX's Falcon and Starship for satellite launches. Blue Origin has also announced the TeraWave megaconstellation for high-speed enterprise connectivity in low-Earth and medium-Earth orbit, plus Project Sunrise with up to 51,600 satellites in Sun-synchronous orbits between 500 and 1,800 km.

These projects are expected to require tens to hundreds of billions of dollars to reach fruition. Sources have told Ars Technica that Bezos, now 62, has grown fatigued from self-funding the company. The capital raise is also needed to compete with the lucrative stock options SpaceX offers employees, especially after SpaceX raised approximately $85 billion through its IPO process earlier this year at an approximate $2 trillion valuation.

In March, Ars Technica predicted Bezos would likely seek outside investors to compete financially with SpaceX. The DealBook-reported numbers remain dwarfed by SpaceX's totals, underscoring the scale of the challenge ahead.