Elon Musk’s SpaceX is raising $750 million (roughly Rs. 6,200 crore) in a new round of funding that values the rocket and satellite company at $137 billion (roughly Rs. 11,33,800 crore) from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, CNBC reported late Monday.
Reuters had reported in November that SpaceX was in talks about an offering of mostly secondary shares that could value the company at up to $150 billion (roughly Rs. 12,41,800 crore), representing a 20 percent increase in valuation.
SpaceX, which counts Alphabet and Fidelity Investments among its investors, had raised about $1.68 billion (roughly Rs. 13,900 crore) through equity financing in June.
Spokespersons for SpaceX and Horowitz did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Horowitz was also a co-investor in Musk’s Twitter buyout deal worth $44 billion (roughly Rs.3,64,260).
SpaceX has launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Starlink, SpaceX’s growing network of thousands of internet satellites, is looking at generating major revenue with commercialised applications such as the rollout of high-speed internet on commercial airlines.
SpaceX competes with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space venture Blue Origin and billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
Back in November, it was reported that SpaceX bought an advertising package on Twitter for its satellite internet service Starlink. Elon Musk, who owns the rocket company and the social media platform that is seeing an exodus of advertisers, said the ad package was purchased to test effectiveness of Twitter advertising in Australia and Spain.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
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