U.S. startup Lunar Outpost closed a $30 million funding round this week that will speed development of a new moon rover, its CEO said, as investor interest in lunar ventures grows.
The company's Series B funding, launched a month ago, was led by Industrious Ventures. Type One Ventures, Eniac Ventures and Promus Ventures also participated.
Denver-based Lunar Outpost has been developing a Lunar Terrain Vehicle named Eagle. It is competing with two other startups - Astrolab and Intuitive Machines (LUNR.O) - to become the primary ride for NASA astronauts on the lunar surface during Artemis missions. Future contracts under the NASA program could be worth billions of dollars.
But NASA administrator Jared Isaacman jolted the agency with changes intended to accelerate the development of a long-term human presence on the lunar surface. NASA in March asked the companies for simpler rover designs that could be deployed more quickly, and it is expected to pick a design this month.
Lunar Outpost's answer to NASA's need for speed is a smaller rover named Pegasus, which it revealed on Thursday.
The $30 million in fresh capital will help speed up Pegasus' development with a launch targeted in 2027. The bigger Eagle rover, which was targeting a 2028 launch, would be pushed to a later phase with its launch around 2030.
"In response to NASA saying, 'Hey, we want to get this done and we want to get it done now,' we decided to open a quick fundraise," CEO Justin Cyrus told Reuters. He said the funding round was oversubscribed, drawing interest worth $90 million but closing at $30 million for now to stay focused on speeding up its lunar efforts.
"One thing that's been a constraint so far for companies looking to operate in cislunar space has been capital. That no longer exists," Cyrus said, attributing the investor interest to NASA's push for more moon missions. Cislunar refers to the space between the Earth and the moon.
The company declined to provide its valuation.
NASA's revised plan for Artemis, which was created during President Donald Trump's first term, involves putting infrastructure, centered on a moon base, and vehicles on the moon's surface. The agency will send regular astronaut missions in a decade-long strategy costing more than $30 billion.
NASA's second Artemis mission launched in April, sending four astronauts around the moon and back as one of a few precursor missions to the first crewed moon landing since 1972.
