SpaceX – the privately held space exploration company led by charismatic founder, Elon Musk – is reportedly raising a new round of fundraising. Reports indicate that the company is looking to raise approximately $250 million dollars at a price per share of $220. This would value SpaceX at about $36 billion – a $3.3 billion dollar increase over its most recent valuation in May 2019. Following WeWork’s financial meltdown last year, this new financing would put SpaceX at the top of America’s list of most valuable tech unicorns.
This new funding would follow $1.33 billion of outside investment last year, totaling to $3.6 billion raised since SpaceX’s inception. The rapid expansion of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, Starlink, and Starship programs are capital-intensive projects that require significant cash for their continued development. The Crew Dragon project aims to fly astronauts and private citizens into space and includes a large contract with NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. The company expects to launch Demo-2, Crew Dragon’s inaugural mission with live astronauts onboard, later this year. The Starlink project’s mission is to deliver high-speed internet anywhere in the world via a global network of satellites. SpaceX currently sends about 60 satellites into space every few weeks and has launched about 300 Starlink satellites to date. With that said, Musk recently expressed that he hopes SpaceX will one day launch anywhere from 12,000 to 42,000 satellites in total. Finally, Starship, the SpaceX mission involving its largest rocket, strives to be completely reusable and capable of carrying up to 100 people and cargo to “Earth’s orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
SpaceX has upended the traditional rocket industry by moving quickly, adapting to failures, and iterating as it goes. Additional funding will help SpaceX compete with rival companies, such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, in a burgeoning private sector space race. Virgin Galactic focuses on commercial spaceflights for space tourism and made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange last October. Blue Origin, whose mission includes space tourism and lunar landers, continues to expand its employee headcount and just opened a new rocket plant in Alabama earlier this month.
Thus far, private investors have lined up to help these companies compete for government contracts and the public’s attention in what is certainly an unprecedented period of private space innovation and investment. Yet, as the media and public focus their attention on the 21st century space race, these companies are staring up – in search of new frontiers.
Sky Is Not the Limit- SpaceX Raising a Big New Round of Fundraising