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Toyota’s mobility subsidiary will invest $44.3 million in a Japanese rocket company.
Interstellar Technologies (IST) is expected to receive a multimillion-dollar investment from Toyota “at the first closing” of its Series F fundraising, the rocket company said Tuesday. It also announced a “business alliance” with Toyota.
IST said, “It aims to leverage automotive industry expertise Toyota’s production methodsTransforming rocket manufacturing into a high-quality, cost-effective and scalable process.”
The logo of Toyota is pictured in Brussels on March 4, 2024. (Reuters/Yves Harman/File Photo/Reuters Photo)
Toyota CEO Hajime Kumabe said, “We are excited to collaborate with Interstellar Technologies on mass production of the rocket.” “This business alliance will leverage Toyota Group’s extensive manufacturing capabilities and combine our expertise to advance rocket production and advance the mobility transformation.”
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As part of the capital and business agreement, Woven will appoint a director to IST’s board and support rocket production by strengthening the 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, which was announced in 2020.
“The future of mobility should not be limited to just Earth or just one car company,” Toyoda said. “Speaking of the sky, we’re also exploring rockets.”
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This is not the first time that Toyota and Interstellar have worked together. Rocket Startup said the companies have been carrying out a “personnel exchange” since 2020.
The announcement came after Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda spoke at the CES trade show in Las Vegas on Monday. (Piotr Swat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/Getty Images)
In announcing a planned investment of $44.3 million on Tuesday, Interstellar said the Japanese government wants to acquire about 30 rocket launches per year “until the early 2030s” in order 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 it Series E Fundraising Efforts It received funding of 3.1 billion yen. According to a press release at the time, the round included a third-party share allocation.
Reuters contributed to this report.
