Blue Origin is reportedly preparing to raise $10 billion in its first-ever funding round from outside investors. If completed, the deal would value the company at around $130 billion before the new investment, making it one of the world’s most valuable privately held space companies, reports The New York Times. The move is a major shift for Blue Origin, which has spent over 25 years relying almost entirely on Jeff Bezos’ personal wealth instead of venture capital or private equity. Bezos has regularly sold Amazon shares to fund the company, allowing it to develop rockets and space technologies without external shareholders.
The potential funding round is expected to be led by investment firm Coatue Management, which is reportedly planning to invest $4 billion. Meanwhile, Bezos himself is expected to contribute another $2 billion, while the remaining $4 billion would come from other institutional investors. Apart from bringing in fresh capital, the deal would give Blue Origin its first independent market valuation and broaden its ownership for the first time. According to the report, the company plans to spend around $5 billion in 2026, taking its total investment since its founding to around $28 billion.
At present, the company operates the reusable New Shepard rocket for suborbital research missions and space tourism, while its larger New Glenn heavy-lift rocket is designed to launch commercial satellites, national security payloads and deep-space missions. Blue Origin also manufactures the BE-4 rocket engine, which powers both its own rockets and launch vehicles built by other companies. In recent years, it has won multi-billion-dollar contracts from NASA and the US Space Force, including work on the Artemis Moon program, lunar landing systems and national security launches.
The fresh funding is expected to help Blue Origin expand manufacturing, increase launch frequency and strengthen its position in the growing commercial space industry. The company is also investing in projects beyond rockets, including satellite communications and Project Sunrise, an initiative aimed at building data centres in space that could one day support AI and cloud computing.
The fundraising comes at a time when investor interest in the space sector has increased sharply, helped by the successful public listing of SpaceX, which reached a valuation of nearly $2 trillion. The strong market response has boosted confidence in companies developing reusable rockets, satellite networks and other space technologies. However, Blue Origin still trails SpaceX in several areas, including launch frequency and commercial revenue. While SpaceX earns significant recurring income through its Starlink satellite internet network, Blue Origin’s business remains more focused on launch services, rocket engines and government contracts.