REDONDO BEACH, California: Impulse Space, a pioneering in-space mobility company, has secured a landmark $300 million in its Series C funding round, marking one of the largest venture capital raises in the history of the space industry. This latest infusion of capital, led by Linse Capital, brings the company’s total funding to $525 million and underscores its rapid ascent as a leader in the burgeoning orbital transportation market.
Founded in 2021 by Tom Mueller, a founding member of SpaceX and the architect of its Merlin engine family, Impulse Space has quickly built a reputation for technical excellence and operational success. The company specializes in developing agile spacecraft—often called “space tugs”—that transport satellites between orbits with speed and precision, enabling more flexible and cost-effective satellite deployment and repositioning.
Impulse’s current fleet includes two key vehicles: Mira, a high-thrust, highly maneuverable spacecraft designed for payload hosting and deployment, which has already completed two successful customer missions; and Helios, a high-energy kick stage engineered to rapidly deliver payloads to medium Earth orbit (MEO), geostationary orbit (GEO), and beyond, with a maiden flight planned for 2026. The company is also developing a customizable GEO rideshare program set to debut in 2027, aimed at providing commercial communications satellites with faster and more affordable rides to GEO compared to traditional heavy-lift rockets.
The $300 million raise comes as Impulse Space experiences surging demand across commercial, civil, and defense sectors. With over 30 signed contracts valued at nearly $200 million, the company is responding to a market that increasingly requires rapid, flexible, and cost-efficient in-space mobility solutions. Commercial satellite operators seek to deploy and reposition assets more swiftly; defense agencies demand tactically responsive capabilities to maintain strategic advantage; and civil missions require precise, adaptable movement to support Earth observation and deep space exploration under tight schedules and budgets.
Impulse plans to use the new capital to accelerate growth in three primary areas: expanding its workforce across engineering, manufacturing, and mission operations; advancing research and development, including integrating electric propulsion for longer-duration missions and developing new vehicles tailored for NASA and national security applications; and scaling production of its Mira and Helios spacecraft to fulfill a growing backlog of missions.
The funding round attracted a diverse group of investors beyond Linse Capital, including new participant DFJ Growth and returning backers such as Valor Equity Partners, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, RTX Ventures, DCVC, Airbus Ventures, Spring Tide, First Principles Group, Balerion Space Ventures, Tamarack Global, and Trousdale Ventures. Bastiaan Janmaat, Managing Partner at Linse Capital, praised Impulse’s speed, precision, and vertically integrated approach, highlighting the company’s strong execution capabilities and its role in building critical infrastructure for next-generation space missions.
Impulse’s leadership emphasizes that the company’s achievements are grounded in operational reality rather than speculation. In less than four years, the firm has executed what are believed to be the two largest orbital maneuvers ever performed by a nitrous-based propulsion system and secured a robust contract pipeline spanning commercial and government customers.
Tom Mueller stated, “We’ve proven that we can build fast and fly successfully. Now, the market is demanding more. This raise helps us scale production and technical capabilities to meet that demand head-on.” He further noted that achieving a true space age will require new levels of in-space mobility to move payloads quickly and precisely within and between orbits—capabilities Impulse is actively building.
With its strong technical foundation, expanding production capacity, and growing market demand, Impulse Space is rapidly scaling to meet the future of space transportation. The company is actively hiring world-class engineers, builders, and mission operators eager to contribute to delivering real missions to orbit and advancing the frontier of in-space mobility.
In summary, Impulse Space’s $300 million Series C funding round not only reflects investor confidence but also equips the company to accelerate its mission of transforming satellite deployment and orbital logistics, positioning it at the forefront of the evolving space economy
