Stoke

# High-Level Overview

Stoke Space Technologies is an aerospace company developing fully reusable orbital rockets to dramatically reduce the cost of space access.[2][3] Founded in 2019, the company builds Nova, a 100% reusable medium-lift launch vehicle designed to deliver payloads to low Earth orbit at a 20x reduced cost compared to traditional rockets.[3] Stoke serves the emerging space economy by enabling affordable, on-demand access to orbit for satellite operators, space logistics providers, and government agencies—solving the fundamental problem that launch costs have historically constrained space commerce and exploration.

The company has achieved significant momentum, raising $369.1 million in total funding across three rounds, including a $260 million Series C, and currently employs approximately 160 people.[4] Stoke operates vertically integrated design, manufacturing, and testing facilities in Washington state, with a 168,000-square-foot headquarters in Kent and a 75-acre rocket test facility near Moses Lake.[2][3]

# Origin Story

Stoke was founded in 2019 by Andy Lapsa and Tom Feldman, both former employees of leading aerospace companies.[3] The founding team recognized an opportunity to apply next-generation manufacturing and design methods to create truly reusable rockets—a capability that had eluded the industry despite decades of attempts. In its early years, the company secured a $225,000 NSF SBIR Phase I grant in May 2020 to develop integrated propulsion solutions for reusable upper stages, followed by $9.1 million in seed funding in February 2021 led by NFX Guild and MaC Venture Capital.[2]

A pivotal moment came in December 2021 when Stoke raised $65 million in Series A funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, enabling the company to accelerate development and testing of its reusable launch vehicle.[2] By 2024, the company had achieved critical technical milestones: completing assembly of its first stage engine and successfully hot-firing its full flow staged combustion (FFSC) engine, named Zenith, in June 2024.[2]

# Core Differentiators

• Rapid reusability: Nova is designed for 100% reusability with both first and second stages returning to launch site, fundamentally different from competitors offering only partial reusability.[2][3]

• Manufacturing speed: Stoke's next-generation tools and methods enable rocket engines, structures, and avionics to be built in days rather than months or years, compressing development cycles.[3]

• Vertical integration: The company controls design, manufacturing, avionics, and testing in-house, enabling rapid iteration with a test facility just three hours from headquarters.[3]

• Cost advantage: Nova promises 20x reduced cost to orbit compared to existing launch providers, directly addressing the primary constraint limiting space economy growth.[3]

• Sustainability focus: The company claims to reduce atmospheric impact by 98% compared to today's most prolific rockets, positioning reusability as an environmental advantage.[3]

• Orbital flexibility: Beyond launch, Nova's reusable upper stage enables dynamic space operations including asset capture, repositioning, long-dwell operations, and return missions.[3]

# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Stoke is riding the commercialization of space trend, where reducing launch costs unlocks entirely new markets—from mega-constellations of internet satellites to on-demand space logistics and manufacturing. The timing is critical: as government agencies (including the U.S. Space Force, which has approved Stoke to bid for small payload launches) and private companies increasingly depend on frequent, affordable access to orbit, the economics of traditional expendable rockets become untenable.[4]

The company operates at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and aerospace innovation, demonstrating how software-driven design, rapid prototyping, and vertical integration can compress timelines in traditionally slow industries. Stoke's success would validate the thesis that reusability—long considered technically impossible at scale—is achievable through modern engineering approaches, potentially reshaping the entire launch industry and enabling the space economy to scale from billions to trillions in value.

# Quick Take & Future Outlook

Stoke is positioned to become a cornerstone infrastructure provider for the space economy, much as SpaceX's Falcon 9 transformed launch economics a decade ago. The company's $369 million in funding and demonstrated technical progress suggest it has moved beyond concept validation into execution phase. Key milestones ahead include completing full-scale engine testing, conducting orbital test flights of Nova, and achieving the rapid reusability cadence that justifies its cost advantage claims.

The broader question is whether Stoke can execute on its ambitious timeline while competing against well-capitalized incumbents and other reusable rocket startups. If Nova achieves even partial success in reducing launch costs, it will accelerate the shift from launch as a scarce, expensive resource to launch as a commodity utility—fundamentally reshaping which space applications become economically viable and attracting capital to downstream space services.