Axiom Space has raised $350 million in a funding round led by Saudi Arabia's Al Jazeera Capital and South Korea's Buriong Healthcare, as the startup aims to collaborate with NASA to develop a private space station. The company refrained from estimating the value of the station but stated that the funding round has increased its total raised to $505 million, making it the second-largest funding round in 2023 after Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
This move comes at a time when hopes have risen for increased funding for space startups, following a more than 50% decline in investment in the sector during the first three months of the year, which remained unchanged in the second quarter. Axiom Space has signed a contract worth up to $1.26 billion with NASA to develop space suits for use on the moon and other space programs. The company expects to launch the first unit of its private space station by 2026.
Additionally, the company has trained astronauts who were transported to the International Space Station via rockets manufactured by SpaceX, amid a rising private sector involvement in the space field, which was previously dominated by the U.S. government. Axiom stated that the total value of contracts it has signed with clients exceeds $2.2 billion.
