X-Bow Systems, a startup developing rockets and solid rocket motors, has closed an interim funding round let by Lockheed Martin
’s [LMT] venture arm that the small company will use to further its work in solid rocket motors.
The value of the investment was not disclosed and included participation from Crosslink Capital, Razor’s Edge Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, Bravo Victor Venture Capital, and Capital Factory.
The investment in X-Bow is the second for Lockheed Martin Ventures, which participated in a $27 million Series A funding round in 2022 that was led by Crosslink and Razor’s Edge. That investment was used to add employees and invest in products.
The new investment will go toward X-Bow’s solid rocket motor (SRM) technology and complete the first phase of the company’s “gigafactory” being built in Luling, Texas, near Austin for commercial SRM manufacturing. Phase one is expected to be complete in the first half of 2024. The site is already used for rocket motor testing.
“Typically, this type of solid rocket motor production capacity takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to develop,” Jason Hundley, X-Bow’s CEO, said in a statement. “But we are completing our phase one in a matter of months at a fraction of the cost.”
In February, X-Bow, which is based in Albuquerque, N.M., said it planned to invest $25 million of private capital to develop the SRM campus in Luling. Construction of the facility began in 2022 and multiple SRM test pads have already been built.
X-Bow also said the new investment will help it fulfill its matching requirement for the $60 million Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) program the company was selected for in the spring by the Air Force AFWERX innovation unit. The STRATFI program includes government funding and private investment with X-Bow responsible for $30 million.
X-Bow said in April that it will use the STRATFI program funding for production of its SRMs, which it says will be built at lower cost and higher rates than what legacy manufacturers can do.
In September, X-Bow received a $64 million contract from the Defense Department’s Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization Office to position the company as a second supplier of large-diameter SRMS for two Army and Navy hypersonic weapons programs. Lockheed Martin is developing the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon System and the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike Weapon System. Northrop Grumman [NOC] subcontracts to Lockheed Martin for the SRMs for both programs.
In addition to SRMs for weapon systems, X-Bow is focused on additive manufacturing of energetics for the rocket motor and launch vehicle markets, and is designing and building a family of modular SRMs and small launch vehicles for orbital and suborbital launch services.