AstroForge Raises $40 Million in Series A Funding for Asteroid Mining

AstroForge developers are inspecting the asteroid mining test satellite Brokkr-1. / AstroForge

AstroForge, a U.S.-based asteroid mining startup, recently announced that it has successfully raised $40 million in its Series A funding round.

This funding round was led by Nova Threshold, with participation from early-stage startup investment funds such as 776, Initialized, Caladan, YC, and Uncorrelated Ventures, as well as Jed McCaleb, the founder of the private space station company Vast.

With this latest funding, AstroForge's total investment has reached $55 million.

AstroForge plans to use the newly secured funds to accelerate the development of the satellite ‘Vestri,’ which is designed for asteroid resource mining.

Vestri weighs approximately 200 kilograms and is scheduled to be launched aboard Intuitive Machines' third unmanned lunar lander, IM-3, targeting a launch date in late 2025.

This satellite will land on an undisclosed asteroid to assess the feasibility of extracting precious metals.

Meanwhile, AstroForge’s first technology demonstration satellite, Brokkr-1, has been delayed due to communication equipment issues.

Brokkr-1 is a 6U CubeSat developed to test refining technology in space and was scheduled to launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission. However, its launch has been postponed due to the communication equipment problem.

AstroForge is also actively developing its second technology demonstration satellite, Brokkr-2 (or Odin).