As it prepares for the first orbital launch from UK soil, Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc has cancelled a planned fundraising, blaming current market conditions.
The company issued a statement on Wednesday, saying any future capital raising transactions will depend upon future market conditions.
A confirmed date for the UK maiden launch, which was originally planned for August and then pushed back to November, has still not been announced, with just six days before the end of the month, amid reports of various delays.
Virgin Orbit had US$71.2mln cash in the bank at the end of September, according to its last set of quarterly earnings, down from US$122.1mln at the end of June.
It was forced to turn to founder Sir Richard Branson for a US$25mln cash injection earlier this month.
In the third quarter, it reported net cash used from operations of US$45.7mln and US$50.7mln in the second.
While Virgin Orbit has a binding backlog of launches worth US$143.1mln, it has so far carried out just three successful commercial launches so far, after an unsuccessful test flight in May 2020.
At $12M per launch that amounts to about a dozen launches. VO's next launch is from Spaceport Cornell. That has been held up for months -- originally scheduled for August -- due to delays in licensing. Boeing 747 and LauncherOne with personnel have been in Cornwall for weeks.
— Space Mafia (@spacemafia) November 24, 2022