Kea Aerospace, founded by Mark Rocket, has raised $17.5 million and opened a new manufacturing facility and mission control centre in Christchurch, the company announced. The facility will give the aerospace firm the capacity to build hundreds of aircraft.

The funding and infrastructure expansion come as Kea Aerospace scales operations in New Zealand. The company did not disclose further details about the funding round or timeline for production, Chris Keall reports for NZ Herald business.