Jane Edwards
In-Q-Tel, the intelligence community’s venture capital arm, has made multiple investments in Kent, Washington-based rocket developer Stoke Space, TechCrunch reported Saturday.
William Morrison, principal at IQT, told the publication about the investments in Stoke Space and that he led the latest investment that closed in February.
Stoke Space is working on a reusable rocket that is being designed to launch on a daily basis. The company was founded by Andy Lapsa and Tom Feldman, former propulsion engineers at Blue Origin, in 2019.
“Space access continues to be launch availability constrained,” Lapsa said in a statement to the publication.
“Building a robust commercial launch economy is critical to sustaining our industrial base and ensuring space access for defense and national security needs,” he noted.
A spokesman for IQT said the firm and Stoke Space also entered into a technology development deal.
