Ursa Major secures $100 million in new capital as it leans hard into defense work

WASHINGTON — Rocket engine startup Ursa Major said Nov. 18 it raised $100 million in Series E funding and locked in another $50 million in debt commitments, giving the Colorado company new equity and access to borrowed capital as it expands deeper into the U.S. defense market.

The round was led by Eclipse, joined by Woodline Partners, Principia Growth, XN, and Alsop Louie Partners. Several existing investors also returned. The raise comes as Washington pushes for more suppliers of hypersonic propulsion and solid rocket motors, two areas where the Pentagon has flagged production shortfalls.

Ursa Major reported more than $115 million in bookings through the first three quarters of 2025. Most of the demand comes from U.S. defense agencies along with Stratolaunch and BAE Systems. The company now counts liquid engines for hypersonic vehicles and solid rocket motors as its core lines of business.

The shift marks a clear pivot from Ursa Major’s early pitch to commercial launch firms. Founded a decade ago, the company tried to become the contract propulsion shop for the wave of small launch startups that preferred to buy engines rather than build them. Its early products, including the Hadley engine, were aimed at that market. But growth in small launch stalled, consolidation hit the sector, and the Pentagon began seeking new propulsion suppliers to support hypersonic weapons and missile defense programs. That need, combined with concerns about overreliance on legacy manufacturers, opened the door for younger firms with modern production lines.

Ursa Major began winning government work through the Air Force Research Laboratory and later through the Navy and other customers, first for small propulsion components and eventually for solid rocket motors. One of its flagship programs is the Draper engine, a propulsion system built for hypersonic vehicles. Draper uses room-temperature propellants and is designed for throttleability and maneuvering, traits that are difficult to achieve with cryogenic engines built for launch vehicles. These features match requirements for hypersonic glide vehicles and missile defense interceptors, both priority areas for the Pentagon.

Future business in satellite propulsion

Speaking at the Baird Defense & Government Conference on Nov. 18, CEO Dan Jablonsky said the company now sees itself primarily as a defense contractor. “There’s not a commercial application for those that I’m aware of yet,” he said, referring to hypersonic vehicles and missiles.

Jablonsky also pointed to a future line of business in satellite propulsion. The U.S. military is pursuing spacecraft that can shift orbits quickly and operate with more mobility than traditional satellites. He noted that the Draper engine could support concepts for space-based missile defense interceptors, including systems under discussion for the Pentagon’s Golden Dome architecture.

Hypersonics remains the company’s center of gravity. Ursa Major’s Hadley engine powers Stratolaunch’s Talon-A test vehicle, a key platform for U.S. hypersonic flight testing. The program is the company’s largest revenue driver. “Solid rocket motors are up and coming really fast, and other in space applications, if you look at Space Force’s and Space Command’s objectives, sustained space mobility is one of them,” Jablonsky said.

The company’s next challenge will be volume. Defense leaders have warned that the United States must rapidly expand production across the missile supply chain. Jablonsky said Ursa Major is preparing for that pressure. “We’ve got to scale that up into hundreds and 1000s of things that the military needs now,” he said.