Sierra Space announced on Tuesday it closed a $290 million second round of funding led by Japanese partners, which company officials say will go toward its efforts to develop a private space station.

Officials said it was an “industry record for combined Series A and B raises,” according to a Tuesday news release.

Sierra Space is a Louisville-based commercial space company in the process of developing a private space station, habitats for crews in orbit and spaceplanes capable of using commercial runways, among other ventures.

Its latest funding will go toward building up Sierra’s global partnerships, according to a company news release Tuesday. It will also “accelerate plans to build a transformational space tech ecosystem that will revolutionize the space economy of tomorrow,” the company’s announcement said.

“Sierra Space is excited to create a long-term strategic relationship with our Japanese investors and industry partners,” CEO Tom Vice said in the release.

A company spokesman did not immediately return requests for further comment from Sierra.

With the latest funding in place, Sierra plans to transition its “Dream Chaser” fleet of spaceplanes from development to mission operations. The Dream Chaser, which landed a contract with NASA, is a group of reusable spaceplanes that can transport crews and cargo to space.

Dream Chaser will be completing cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station for NASA. The latest funding also opens the door for Sierra to consider Oita Airport in Japan as a landing site for the Dream Chase spaceplane, the company said.

Sierra has spent the last five years developing a commercial space station and expects to undertake full-scale testing of the station by the year’s end.

The latest funding round brings Sierra’s total capital raised to $1.7 billion and the company’s valuation to $5.3 billion, according to a news release. Sierra also has $3.4 billion in active contracts. The round was co-led by Japanese investors MUFG Bank, the trading company Kanematsu Corp., and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance.

“MUFG aspires to help all our stakeholders take the next step forward, and we believe this should serve as the starting point for all business activities,” MUFG Bank President and CEO Junichi Hanzawa said in the release. Sierra Space Corporation’s aim to build a platform in space that will benefit life on earth is the very embodiment of this concept, and MUFG has decided to invest in low earth orbit to support commercialization, the creation of new industries, and the resolution of social issues.” 

In 2021, the company broke off from Sierra Nevada Corp. to become its own entity. It has more than 1,200 employees, about 700 of which are in Colorado. Sierra Space has been hiring at a brisk pace locally since that move, hiring more than 100 per year. 

Japanese companies with their sights set on space ventures have been bolstering their partnerships with private companies at home and in the U.S., Reuters reported. Sierra’s rivals include the Houston-based Axiom Space, which earlier this fall concluded a $350 million round of funding led by Saudi and South Korean investors.

The announcement from Sierra came on the heels of other Colorado aerospace industry news.

Earlier this week, the Japanese lunar exploration company ispace technologies announced the grand opening of its U.S. headquarters in Denver Thursday, along with upcoming updates regarding its lunar lander. ispace technologies selected Denver for its U.S. headquarters in 2020.