Relativity Space, the Long Beach 3D-printed rocket maker, has unveiled plans to create a fully reusable rocket.
CEO Tim Ellis told CNBC that the move is an "obvious evolution" for the company. The announcement comes on the heels of a hefty $500 million round he closed in November.
"It's the same architecture, the same propellant, the same factory, the same 3D printers, the same avionics and the same team," Ellis told the outlet.
- Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis On 3-D Printing Rockets - dot.LA ›
- Relativity Space Soars, Lands $500M Investment - dot.LA ›
- Relativity Space CEO: 20K Satellites Will Launch in the Next Five ... ›
- Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis Speaks with Spencer Rascoff - dot.LA ›
Even a raging pandemic and sagging economy could not slow down startupland, which set new records for deal value, exit value and capital raised.
Investors deployed $156.2 billion into startups, liquidated $290.1 billion of value via exits and closed on $73.6 billion in traditional VC funds, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor released Thursday, which is jointly produced by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Firms are starting this year with $152 billion in dry powder at their disposal.
"The unprecedented macro events of 2020 did not deter the overall VC industry, which reached another banner year across the venture cycle," said Bobby Franklin, president and chief executive of NVCA, in a prepared statement.
At least one out of every 10 venture investment dollars flowed through Los Angeles, which continued to demonstrate its heft as a tech hub, trailing only the Bay Area in total deal value. That was tied with New York, but whereas that city saw a 16.9% decline in deal value, Los Angeles saw a 38.9% increase.
- Navigating the Venture Capital World as a Black Person - dot.LA ›
- The Largest Venture Capital Raises in Los Angeles in 2020 - dot.LA ›
Makers of rockets and video games — and a now-notorious short-form streaming service that ended in spectacular failure — dominated the list of biggest L.A. venture deals in 2020.
The top ten raises amounted to more than $5.3 billion, according to data from Pitchbook. Of the top ten biggest raises, Elon Musk's SpaceX dominated the list. The rocket maker went back to the venture capital well three times this year, most recently in August when it raised $1.9 billion of Series N venture funding from Capital Partners and Legendary Ventures at $44.10 billion valuation.
- Startup Dealmaking in Los Angeles is Down - dot.LA ›
- Los Angeles Venture Capital Activity Was Up in Q3 - dot.LA ›
- Ranking LA’s Biggest VC Funds of 2020 - dot.LA ›
- Los Angeles Venture Capitalists on the LA Venture Podcast - dot.LA ›
- Lux Capital Funds Deep-Tech Founders Early - dot.LA ›
- Here Are Los Angeles' Top Venture Capitalists - dot.LA ›
- LA Second Only to SF in Total Venture Deal Value: Report - dot.LA ›
- Venture Capital Funding Goes Mostly to White Male Founders - dot.LA ›
- Los Angeles Venture Funds Grow, but Spend Less in LA - dot.LA ›