Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has raised US$1.9-billion in new funding, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. This would be the largest single fundraising round to date by SpaceX, according to PitchBook data.
Bloomberg, which reported about the funding round last week, said the private rocket company will have an equity value of $46-billion after the transaction, citing people familiar with the matter.
The funding comes as SpaceX races to build out its Starlink satellite constellation to offer broadband Internet commercially by the end of 2020. The company launched its eleventh batch of satellites on Tuesday, and operates over 600 satellites in low-Earth orbit.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule completed its first two-month mission carrying astronauts for Nasa in early August, with plans to start routine crewed missions to the International Space Station in late October. — Reported by Munsif Vengattil, with additional reporting by Joey Roulette, (c) 2020 Reuters