Argo Navis Aerospace, based in New Zealand, has reported the initial close of their convertible note round — the oversubscribed NZ$1.075 million round was led by WNT Ventures with participation from Alt Ventures and the wider WNT Investor Group. WNT Ventures partnered with the company in 2020 and provided NZ$1 million of capital in a pre-seed round.
Argo Navis has developed a nexgen rocket propulsion system that enables the rapid development and launching of vehicles. The company states their engines are highly scalable, reliable, and efficient.
The Argo Navis 5kN engine completed ground testing in early 2022, and a successful 4 second in-flight burn on the K-200 test vehicle occurred earlier this month.
“It was a straight-forward decision by our investment committee to invest into Argo Navis at the beginning,” said Carl Jones, Managing Partner at WNT Ventures. “Malcolm is an innovator and problem solver, he has a distinguished career as a rocket engineer having previously been key to developing technology for a successful well-known rocket launch provider operating out of Aotearoa. It was the natural next step for him to found his own company with this new innovation.”
“Launch providers are very interested in the Argo Navis propulsion system, but they need to see it to believe it,” said Dr. Malcolm Snowdon, the company’s CEO and Founder. “Our first sub-orbital demonstration flight has received the green light, which means we will be proving out the technology in flight and will continue to showcase the propulsion system in operation through the launch program.”