The new space race is underway, and the manufacturing and defense hub in Los Angeles is chomping at the bit.

Apex, the Culver City-based space manufacturing startup, announced in late April it raised $200 million in series C funding. The round was led by Point72 Ventures and 8VC, and included participation from the likes of Washington Harbour Partners, StepStone Group and Andreessen Horowitz.

“Apex’s approach to building spacecraft is key to America realizing its commercial and national security strategies in space,” said Apex Founder and Chief Executive Ian Cinnamon in a statement.

The first of its kind

Apex bills itself as the only company that manufactures satellite buses en masse, steering away from the more conventional method of building custom buses in order to scale faster and provide off-the-shelf components.

Satellite buses, also called spacecraft buses, are the part of the launch vehicle that holds the necessary materials that are being delivered into space.

“Apex is laser-focused on what we believe missions in space need most: rapid delivery, transparent pricing and the highest possible quality,” Chris Morales, a partner at Point72 Ventures, said in a statement.

Apex produces these aircrafts at Factory One, a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Playa Vista that the company established in 2023. The facility is home to Apex’s flagship Aries platform, a bus capable of carrying up to 100 kilograms of payloads.

Apex’s $200 million is easily the largest deal of the year so far, while its $95 million series B for 2024 was the third largest in the space.