Blue Origin closes first outside funding round at $130B valuation; raises $10B led by Coatue

Blue Origin has raised $10 billion in its first outside funding round at a $130 billion valuation, according to sources who spoke with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin. Jeff Bezos himself is contributing $2 billion into the round, while hedge fund Coatue Management is investing $4 billion. The remaining $4 billion has seen significant demand from major investors.

The funding follows a blockbuster SpaceX IPO last month that raised ~$86 billion and valued Musk's company at ~$2 trillion. Blue Origin competes directly with SpaceX in heavy-lift rockets, lunar landers, and satellite internet, though SpaceX has a significant lead. Blue Origin is rebuilding its New Glenn rocket test pad after an explosion in May and targeting return to flight by end of 2026. Bezos previously told CNBC that Blue Origin would one day be bigger than Amazon.

For AI infrastructure builders: this capital influx improves Blue Origin's ability to deliver satellite launch capacity and orbital infrastructure, which architects relying on low-earth-orbit compute or connectivity should watch as an alternative to SpaceX's growing dominance.