Kevin Weil, a technology executive whose career spans Twitter, Meta, Planet Labs and OpenAI, has joined the board of Stoke Space, a well-funded Seattle startup developing fully reusable rockets to rival SpaceX. The appointment matters because it deepens the ties between Silicon Valley's tech and AI worlds and the private space sector, and because Weil brings fundraising, defence and space-industry experience to a company approaching its first operational launch.

Weil was an early investor in Stoke through Scribble Ventures, the fund he runs with his wife Elizabeth, and has advised CEO Andy Lapsa since the firm was founded in 2020. Stoke has since raised $1.34 billion, including a $510 million Series D in 2025, to build its Nova rocket, intended to be completely and rapidly reusable — a feat no one has yet achieved. Weil most recently led OpenAI's scientific-research acceleration effort and was previously its chief product officer, prompting speculation about a possible link to OpenAI's reported interest in Stoke, which Lapsa declined to discuss. His background also includes the presidency of satellite firm Planet Labs and US Army Reserve service bridging tech and the Department of Defense.