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Stoke Space is developing the fully reusable Nova rocket with an actively cooled second-stage heat shield, backed by an $860 million Series D round.
ACTIVEStoke Space is developing Nova, a family of fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicles whose upper stage uses an actively cooled metallic heat shield. It announced a $1 billion Series E on 8 September 2026, and the Nova Pathfinder vehicle is targeting its first flight in the first part of 2027.
Stoke Space is developing Nova, a family of fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicles whose upper stage uses an actively cooled metallic heat shield. It announced a $1 billion Series E on 8 September 2026, and the Nova Pathfinder vehicle is targeting its first flight in the first part of 2027.
Rank 28 of 94 ranked companies, shared with 1 other company on the same total. With the pillars we have not measured for this company filled at the 10th and 90th percentiles of the companies we did measure, and every other company held at its published total, the rank is likely between 9 and 51.
4 of 8 inputs measured · Medium confidence · 63% of applicable weight backed by data
Not measured: Headcount, Market value, Reported revenue
Not measured: Open-role change (90 days)
A pillar score averages the company’s percentiles among the tracked companies with a value: relative standing, not a grade. Inputs measured 2026-10-20 (UTC) · methodology v6. Every input, its value and percentile · How it is computed
The Space Score ranks companies relative to each other on public data we hold. It describes; it does not rate, forecast or recommend. It is not a credit rating and not investment advice. Full disclaimer
Sources: Founded, Headquarters, CEO, Legal name
For information only, not investment advice. SpaceNexus is not a registered investment adviser, broker or dealer, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Data may be delayed, estimated or incomplete; check the source before acting. Full disclaimer
7 private rounds on record (1 with no stated amount, counted but not added). Debt, grants, state capital, owner funding and acquisitions are listed under Funding history by class and not added in.
Fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle; the reusable second stage uses a regeneratively cooled heat shield ringed by 24 thrust chambers. First launch planned for 2027.
Contracts, suppliers, launches and schedule for each program, every fact sourced:
Checking for a discussion…
Compiled Oct 20, 2026 from 11 public records. Every figure links the record it comes from.
Space federal awards
4 awards, $5.7M obligated
Awards with activity since Oct 1, 2018, as searched Sep 24, 2026. Awarded Aug 3, 2020 to Mar 28, 2025; most from DoD (3 awards)
Counts awards the government's own product code or programme title marks as space work, or the space research industry code; the satellite-telecoms industry code counts only together with a space agency, office or a space word in the award's own description. Obligated dollars, not ceilings; umbrella contracts (IDVs) are left out because their orders are counted one by one. Amounts as USAspending reported them on Sep 24, 2026.
Source: USAspending.gov recipient profile (all awards, not only space)
Latest award Mar 28, 2025
Latest space award
$5.0M from DoD
NATIONAL SECURITY SPACE LAUNCH (NSSL) PHASE 3 LANE 1 LAUNCH SERVICES PROCUREMENT
Source: USAspending.gov award record
Awarded Mar 28, 2025
Form D notices
4 offerings reported on Form D
Latest filed Jan 23, 2025; first sale Oct 5, 2023
Each offering counts once: a later amendment (Form D/A) replaces its original. Form D names no round label and no investors. Filings for a merger or SPAC deal are left out.
Latest sourced round
Series E: amount undisclosed
Co-led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital
Source: GeekWire Space
Announced Sep 8, 2026
Sourced rounds on record
7 rounds, $1.34B disclosed
1 with no amount disclosed
Published rounds with a source link only, on the same rules as the funding tracker. Each round links the source that states its figure; amounts in other currencies are converted to dollars at the rate shown on the funding tracker.
Open roles
72 open roles
30 days ago: 69 (Sep 20, 2026). 90 days ago: before our daily count began (Aug 13, 2026)
Roles on the company's own jobs board, read by our daily sync. Listings posted or paid for on SpaceNexus are not counted. Earlier daily counts include every listed role.
Source: Company jobs board (Greenhouse)
Counted Oct 20, 2026
Department of Defense
3 space awards, $5.5M obligated
USAspending.gov award record, Mar 28, 2025
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
1 space award, $125K obligated
USAspending.gov award record, Aug 3, 2020
General Innovation
Took part in Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026
APA
SpaceNexus. (2026, October 20). Stoke Space: Company dossier [Data set]. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/stoke-space
Chicago
SpaceNexus. "Stoke Space: Company dossier." Data as of October 20, 2026. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/stoke-space.
BibTeX
@misc{spacenexus_stokespace_2026,
author = {{SpaceNexus}},
title = {{Stoke Space}: Company dossier},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
howpublished = {\url{https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/stoke-space}},
url = {https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/stoke-space},
urldate = {2026-10-20},
note = {Data as of 2026-10-20; each fact links its primary source}
}Took part in Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026
Co-led Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026
Co-led Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026
Took part in Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026
Took part in Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026
Took part in Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026
Took part in Series E (Sep 8, 2026)
GeekWire Space, Sep 8, 2026