Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the US-based space technology and services provider backed by internet technology conglomerate Alphabet, is lining up a $500m funding round, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The proposed round will value SpaceX at $30.5bn and the funding will come from investment firm Baillie Gifford and the company’s existing investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
It is however unclear whether the funding would represent the final close of a round with a $507m target that had reached $214m as of April this year according to a securities filing. Financial services and investment group Fidelity was reportedly in the frame to lead that round.
SpaceX develops and launches rockets and spacecraft, resupplying the International Space Station and launching satellites on behalf of its clients. It is now undertaking a launch every month on average.
The prospective funding will be used to build out a satellite-based internet network for SpaceX as well as to further develop its rockets as it works toward passenger flights to the moon and eventually to Mars.
The company raised $250m in debt financing last month through a leveraged loan that was cut from an initial target of $750m. It had received some $1.7bn in funding prior to the filing earlier this year, after closing a $450m round that valued it at $21.5bn in November 2017.
Founders Fund, DFJ, Valor Equity Partners, Capricorn and Rothenberg Ventures supplied SpaceX’s early funding before GV, the Alphabet unit formerly known as Google Ventures, invested $900m in 2015 alongside $100m from Fidelity, at a valuation of $12bn.
Photo courtesy of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
