WASHINGTON — Intuitive Machines raised $175 million in a stock sale Feb. 25 and plans to use the proceeds to help build out a deep space communications network.
The company said it raised the money by selling shares to a group led by unnamed “global institutional investors.” The transaction closed as expected Feb. 27.
Intuitive Machines said it will use the new capital “to support revenue expansion and investment in technologies to advance communications and data processing networks.” It will do so using the capabilities of satellite manufacturer Lanteris Space Systems, formerly Maxar Space Systems, which Intuitive Machines acquired in an $800 million deal announced in November.
That includes development of a lunar satellite network of at least five spacecraft to provide communications services for missions on and around the moon. Intuitive Machines has a NASA contract to provide those services with a maximum value of $4.8 billion over 10 years.
When the company announced its acquisition of Lanteris, it said it might use larger spacecraft buses from that company for the lunar network. Intuitive Machines had already begun work on the first three spacecraft internally at the time of the acquisition.
“With this investment, we can accelerate the integration of the combined company’s collective capabilities to deliver next-generation data, communications and space-based infrastructure services,” Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, said in a statement.
The company said the new funding could also create additional opportunities. In its announcement, it said it “believes this investment will enhance its ability to win and execute higher-margin, recurring revenue programs such as Golden Dome initiatives, Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (‘TDRSS’), the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, as well as the evolving space-based orbital data center market.”
Some of those opportunities may not be accessible to Intuitive Machines without new partnerships. Last year’s budget reconciliation bill included $700 million for NASA for a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter but restricted eligibility to companies that participated in Mars Sample Return commercial design studies in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Intuitive Machines was not among the companies that performed those studies.
Investors reacted negatively to the funding announcement, in part because the shares were priced at $15.12. The company’s stock closed Feb. 24 at $18.90 and fell 16% in trading Feb. 25. The share price partially recovered since then, closing Feb. 27 at $16.48.
Intuitive Machines is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2025 financial results before markets open March 19.
