Bezos no longer sole backer as Blue Origin seeks external investors

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said Tuesday that the US-based space company will no longer be solely backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and is fundraising with external investors.

“We are raising outside money for the first time. Jeff has funded it up till now,” Limp said at an event in Washington, confirming earlier reports.

The company is seeking to raise US$8 billion in outside capital, US media reported.

Though they were both founded in the early 2000s, Blue Origin has fallen behind SpaceX in the billionaire-backed space race, with rival Elon Musk’s company achieving a historic stock listing in June by raising $85.7 billion for a valuation of $1.77 trillion.

Now Blue Origin is trying to make up for lost ground by vying against SpaceX to send data centers into space and transporting astronauts to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

Bezos has invested US$30 billion in Blue Origin since its creation, the Wall Street Journal reported.