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Toyota's mobility subsidiary will invest $44.3 million in a Japanese rocket company.
Interstellar Technologies ( IST ) is set to receive a multimillion-dollar investment from Toyota in the “first close” of its Series F fundraising, the rocket company said Tuesday. It announced a “business alliance” with Toyota.
IST states that it “aims to leverage the expertise of the automotive industry, incl Toyota's production systemTo transform rocket manufacturing into a high-quality, cost-effective and scalable process.”
A Toyota logo is pictured in Brussels on March 4, 2024 (Reuters/Yves Hermann/File Photo/Reuters Photo)
“We are excited to collaborate with Interstellar Technologies on mass production of the rocket,” said Toyota CEO Hajime Kumabe. “This business alliance will leverage the Toyota Group's extensive manufacturing capabilities and combine our expertise to advance rocket production and further drive the mobility transformation.”
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As part of the capital and business deal, Owen will appoint a director to IST's board and support rocket production by strengthening supply chain and corporate governance, IST said in a statement.
The announcement follows Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda's speech at the CES trade show in Las Vegas on Monday, when he gave an update on the company's experimental Woven City project announced in 2020.
“The future of mobility should not be limited to just the world or just one car company,” Toyoda said. “Speaking of the skies, we're also exploring rockets.”
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It is not the first time Toyota and Interstellar have worked together, woven by Toyota's investment. The companies have been “swapping people” since 2020, according to Rocket Startup.
The announcement came after a speech by Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda at the CES trade show in Las Vegas on Monday. (Getty Images/Getty Images via Piotr Swat/SOPA Images/LightRocket)
In Tuesday's announcement of a planned investment of $44.3 million, Interstellar noted that the Japanese government wants to acquire About 30 rocket launches every year “to the early 2030s” to “meet the growing demand for launches domestically and internationally.”
According to Interstellar, three rockets were launched in Japan last year.
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The rocket company said in August that its Series E Fundraising Efforts It brought in 3.1 billion yen in funding. That round involved a third-party share allocation, according to a press release at the time.
Reuters contributed to this report.