SHANGHAI — China's first commercial rocket launch company has raised 1.2 billion yuan ($181.5 million) for the development and launch of its Kuaizhou series carrier rockets.

CASIC Rocket Technology Company, based in the central city of Wuhan, said it signed fund raising agreements with eight investment institutions at the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange Monday.

Zhang Di, vice president of China Sanjiang Space Group and chairman of CASIC Rocket Technology, said the original shareholders did not participate in the capital raising.

"The fund will be mainly invested in the development of Kuaizhou series carrier rockets, the rocket assembly facility and other upstream and downstream commercial space businesses," Zhang said.

CASIC Rocket Technology was jointly established in February 2016 by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited (CASIC) and China Sanjiang Space Group.

Kuaizhou-11, the company's latest carrier rocket, has entered the testing and debugging phase and is scheduled to embark on its maiden flight carrying six satellites in the first half of 2018.