WHO WE ARE
APEX ORBITAL
Founded in 2018 by engineers who believed the launch industry deserved better — more reliable, more transparent, and structurally committed to the long arc of human space exploration.
OUR MISSION
TO MAKE RELIABLE SPACE ACCESS THE GLOBAL NORM, NOT THE EXCEPTION.
PRECISION
Every trajectory calculation, every engine calibration, every integration step is performed to tolerances tighter than industry standard. We do not launch unless the numbers say nominal.
TRANSPARENCY
Our clients receive real-time telemetry access during integration and launch. No black-box operations. Full post-launch data packages within 48 hours.
LONGEVITY
We are building an infrastructure company, not a sprint startup. Our vehicles are designed for 30-year cadence programmes, not one-off demonstrations.
THE FOUNDING STORY
STARTED IN A HANGAR. NOW WE OWN THE SKY.
It started with a disagreement. Marcus Webb and Anika Sharma were sitting in a Hawthorne conference room in 2017 arguing about what a launch vehicle could be if you stripped away the legacy constraints — the cost-plus contracts, the procurement cycles, the institutional conservatism.
Marcus said it was possible to build a reliable heavy-lift vehicle at half the cost. Anika said that was conservative — she thought a third of the cost was achievable with vertical integration. James Orla, who was listening from the hallway, walked in and said they were both right if they were willing to build the engines themselves.
Three months later, they had resigned, incorporated Apex Orbital in Delaware, and leased a hangar at a former USAF facility outside of Mojave. The first Merlin V9 prototype hot-fired 14 months after that.
COMPANY HISTORY
THE TIMELINE
Company founded in Hawthorne, CA by Webb, Sharma & Orla
Merlin V9 first hot-fire test at Stennis Space Center
Series A: $340M led by Sequoia Capital & Founders Fund
Apex Titan maiden flight — 22 satellites to LEO, mission success
First stage RTLS landing achieved; Apex Nova first flight
Series B: $1.1B at $4.8B valuation. FAA operating license awarded
Apex Scout first flight; 40th cumulative launch milestone
Cape Canaveral launch complex 2 opened; 14-launch cadence announced
47th launch; crewed variant (Titan-H) PDR completed
LEADERSHIP
THE TEAM
MARCUS WEBB
CEO & Co-Founder
Formerly SVP Launch Operations, SpaceX. 18 years in the aerospace industry across Boeing Defense and NASA's KSC. MBA, MIT Sloan.
DR. ANIKA SHARMA
CTO & Co-Founder
PhD Aerospace Engineering, Caltech. Former lead propulsion engineer at Aerojet Rocketdyne. Holds 14 patents in liquid rocket propulsion.
JAMES ORLA
Co-Founder & Chief Engineer
20 years in structural engineering for launch vehicles. Designed the Titan's composite fairing system. B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech.
DR. LENA VASQUEZ
VP Propulsion
Ph.D. in combustion dynamics from Stanford. Previously at Blue Origin's New Glenn programme as chief propulsion architect. Merlin V9 lead designer.
NILE ADEWALE
VP Engineering
15 years in avionics and guidance systems. Formerly at Orbital Sciences. Led the FTS-X autonomous range safety system development.
SARAH CHEN
VP Commercial Partnerships
Former Director of Business Development at Arianespace. Negotiated 31 commercial contracts across 14 countries. Harvard Law, international space law specialist.
CAREERS AT APEX
BUILD THE MACHINES THAT BUILD THE FUTURE.
We're growing from 1,240 to 2,000 people by 2027. We hire engineers, mission planners, software developers, and operators who are not content to watch humanity reach orbit from a distance. Join us.
