SpaceX, Elon Musk’s reusable rocket and satellite internet venture, has raised $1.9 billion USD in series N funding at a valuation of $46 billion, according to people familiar with the company’s fundraising activity.
A new report from Reuters explains that the funding would help SpaceX begin commercial operations of its Starlink satellite broadband service and to conduct suborbital and orbital test flights of its Starship and SuperHeavy booster launch vehicle. An SEC filing from today confirmed the previously rumoured funding round, a figure at $1,901,446,920 USD according to the document.
“Bloomberg, which reported about the fund round last week, said the private rocket company will have an equity value of $46 billion after the transaction, citing people familiar with the matter,” reads the report.
The funding round was reportedly oversubscribed, explains the report, though there isn’t yet much information available about who participated. A previous Bloomberg report said Fidelity Investments was among the largest in, but they did not confirm. SpaceX might be better positioned than ever to seek significant resources from investors, given the string of high-profile successes it has recorded recently.
The news comes after SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 first stage booster for a sixth time earlier today. The reusable rocket brings the company a step closer to making space more accessible by reducing the cost of spaceflight.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/q6t6QXO5Cl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 18, 2020
NASA currently spends around $150 million USD per launch, with estimates for missions to the moon set to cost more than $2 billion each. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket currently costs an average of $57 million USD per launch, and Musk has said future missions may one day cost as little as $2 million each.
