Spanish launch services provider PLD Space has secured an additional €108 million in funding, extending the Series C round to €288 million. The company is preparing for the inaugural flight of the Miura 5 rocket later this year.
PLD Space announced that it had closed a €180 million Series C funding round in early March. On 1 September, just under six months later, the company announced a second €108 million tranche led by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, which also led the initial round. The announcement of its Series C extension comes less than a week after the European Space Agency awarded the company a €158.9 million contract as part of its European Launcher Challenge.
According to the company, the new capital will support the industrialisation of its Miura 5 rocket, including by boosting production and test capacity. It will also support the construction of launch infrastructure and the company’s transition towards commercial operations.
“This new milestone, which continues the Series C round initiated earlier this year, reinforces our ability to execute PLD Space’s transition into a global provider of commercial launch services, while maintaining rigorous operational and financial discipline,” said PLD Space executive president Ezequiel Sánchez.
While sharing a name and historical lineage with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the manufacturer of Japan’s H3 rocket, Mitsubishi Electric is a separate and independently operated company.
PLD Space is currently working towards the inaugural flight of its Miura 5 rocket. The two-stage rocket is designed to deliver payloads of up to 540 kilograms to a sun-synchronous orbit.
In June, the company said civil works at its launch complex on the grounds of the Guiana Space Centre were expected to be completed by summer, although it did not specify whether this referred to summer in mainland France or French Guiana. In the same announcement, the company added that it was on track to conduct the rocket’s inaugural flight before the end of 2026.
In early August, the company revealed that a Miura 5 second stage had been shipped to the United States for a flight termination system test. The company did not, however, give an indication of when this test would occur.
Since its June announcement, the company has not provided any further update on whether the debut of Miura 5 remains on track for late 2026.
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