Hadrian is not the only Torrance technology company attracting enormous investment.

K2 Space, which manufactures large, high-power satellites in Torrance, announced a $500 million Series D funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and ICONIQ.

The financing values K2 Space at approximately $6.8 billion.

The company is developing a different approach to satellite manufacturing: instead of building smaller spacecraft around the limitations of traditional launch vehicles, K2 is designing larger satellite platforms capable of carrying substantially more power and payload.

The new capital is intended to help the company scale production and expand its ability to manufacture those satellites.

K2 already has an expanding industrial presence in Torrance. Earlier this year, commercial real-estate firm The Klabin Company identified K2 Space as one of the advanced manufacturing companies expanding locally, part of a broader increase in aerospace, defense and technology users occupying Torrance industrial properties.

Taken together with Hadrian’s growth, the K2 announcement points to something bigger than two successful startups.

Torrance appears to be developing an increasingly important advanced-manufacturing corridor, where aerospace, defense, robotics and space companies can find the large industrial facilities and skilled workforce they need.

That could become one of the most consequential changes to the city’s economy over the next decade.

Article Link