SpaceX, the US-based space exploration technology and services provider backed by internet technology conglomerate Alphabet, has raised $214m of a planned $500m, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.
Although the company has not identified the investors, the filing states 15 participants provided the capital, and TechCrunch reported last month financial services group Fidelity was set to lead the $500m round.
Founded in 2002, SpaceX designs, develops and manufactures space exploration vehicles before launching them into space to undertake missions on behalf of the US government and private customers.
The filing was made on the same day the company launched a ‘planet hunting’ satellite using one of its Falcon 9 rockets that will orbit the earth at a high altitude in order to photograph stars in distant solar systems to determine whether they likely host planets.
The new funding takes the total raised by SpaceX to about $1.9bn, $450m of which was supplied by undisclosed investors in December 2017 at a reported $21.5bn valuation. It is currently raising funding at a $24bn valuation, Recode reported last week.
Alphabet subsidiary GV joined Fidelity to invest $1bn in the company in 2015 at a $10bn+ valuation. SpaceXs earlier funding came from DFJ, Rothenberg Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Capricorn and Founders Fund.
– Photo courtesy of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.