Apex Seeks $500M Round at $4B Valuation
The proposed raise would double the Culver City space manufacturer's April valuation as California aerospace funding climbs.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Startups
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Apex, a space manufacturing startup based in Culver City, is raising $500 million in a funding round that would value the company at around $4 billion. The round is expected to be led by Washington Harbour, with Andreessen Horowitz and XYZ Venture Capital also participating; the company's status as a pending raise means the terms are announced, not closed.
Why it matters
The proposed valuation would roughly double Apex's April 2026 valuation of about $2.3 billion, signaling investor appetite for space manufacturing as California's aerospace and defense sector has raised around $21 billion so far this year. The round would be Apex's sixth funding round in four years, following a partnership with Elveo Mobile that uses Apex's factory model to build a direct-to-device satellite constellation.
Valuation figures come from PitchBook, which reports Apex at around $2.3 billion in April 2026 against a proposed round valuing it near $4 billion. Apex's earlier rounds total $600 million across 2025 and April 2026, but the source does not disclose what share of the new round will go to manufacturing capacity.
The players
Apex
A Culver City space manufacturer that uses a factory model to produce satellite hardware at scale.
Washington Harbour
A Virginia-based investment firm expected to lead Apex's $500 million round.
Andreessen Horowitz
A Menlo Park venture capital firm participating in Apex's round, with a broad portfolio across technology sectors.
XYZ Venture Capital
A San Francisco venture capital firm participating in Apex's round.
Elveo Mobile
A Washington, D.C. company building a direct-to-device satellite constellation, manufactured through its partnership with Apex.
The details
Apex is building a factory model for space manufacturing, meaning it produces hardware at scale rather than one spacecraft at a time. That approach underpinned its September partnership with Elveo Mobile, under which the two companies will set up a dedicated factory to manufacture Elveo's direct-to-device satellite constellation, a network of satellites meant to connect ordinary phones directly to orbit. The funding is intended to support that kind of production capacity, though the source does not detail the specific buildout plan.
Timeline
Apex was founded in 2022.
Apex raised $400 million across back-to-back rounds in 2025.
Apex closed a $200 million round in April 2026 at a $2.3 billion valuation.
Apex and Elveo Mobile announced their factory partnership in September 2026.
California's aerospace and defense sector had raised around $21 billion by the end of October 2026.
The Tech Race
Apex's proposed round is one of several capital-intensive space manufacturing bets in California, alongside Impulse Space and K2 Space, which were also founded in 2022 and have each raised five rounds. Where Apex differentiates is its factory-first model, which it is applying to a satellite constellation for a named commercial partner rather than only to its own launches.
For most readers the round itself has no direct effect, since it is a private financing and no consumer product is tied to it in the source. Its practical relevance is indirect: if Apex closes the round and expands its factory capacity, the Elveo satellite constellation it is building would be the first place readers could eventually notice a change, though the source gives no timeline for service availability.
The takeaway
Watch for the round's formal close and final valuation, which will confirm whether the $4 billion figure holds. Investors' follow-through on the Elveo factory buildout will show whether Apex's factory model can scale beyond its first named partner.
Further reading
For more on the companies shaping the state's venture scene, see the Startups section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Los Angeles Business Journal.
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