TL;DRImpulse Space raised $500 million in a Series D at a $4.26 billion valuation, bringing total funding to $1 billion. Founded by SpaceX’s first employee Tom Mueller, the company builds “space tugs” for orbital transfer and is working with Anduril on Trump’s Golden Dome missile defence shield.
Impulse Space, the orbital transfer vehicle startup founded by Tom Mueller, has raised $500 million in a Series D round that values the company at $4.26 billion. The round was co-led by 137 Ventures and Banner VC, with participation from existing investors including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Linse Capital. The company has now raised roughly $1 billion since its founding in 2021, including a $300 million Series C just one year ago.
Mueller is not a typical startup founder. He was SpaceX’s first employee and the propulsion engineer who led the development of the Merlin and Raptor engines that power every Falcon 9 and Starship flight. As SpaceX prepares for the largest IPO in history, the company Mueller helped build from a warehouse in El Segundo is heading toward a $1.8 trillion public valuation. The company he founded after leaving is now worth $4.26 billion on its own.
What space tugs do
