Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the US-based aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services provider backed by internet technology group Alphabet, revealed more than $1bn in funding in two regulatory filings on Friday.
The company secured approximately $486m of a targeted $500m in a round it began raising in December 2018, and subsequently added more than $535m of a $540m target it had set last month.
The identity of the investors was not revealed, though in December the Wall Street Journal had cited people familiar with the matter who named investment firm Baillie Gifford and existing shareholders as participants in the $486m round.
Founded in 2002, SpaceX produces and launches reusable rockets and spacecraft to supply the International Space Station. It also launches satellites into orbit and has a long-term goal of building interplanetary spacecraft to colonise Mars.
The company is working on a service called Starlink that will use satellites to provide internet coverage to areas that are not satisfactorily served, and last week launched the first batch of 60 satellites required for its operation.
SpaceX has raised more than $3.18bn to date according to press reports and regulatory filings. GV, an early-stage investment subsidiary of Alphabet, led a $1bn funding round for the company in 2015 at a $12bn valuation that also featured financial services and investment group Fidelity.
The company’s earlier backers include DFJ, Rothenberg Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Capricorn and Founders Fund, and it added $450m at a $21.5bn valuation in late 2017, before securing $215m from similarly from unnamed investors in April 2018.
