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Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company SpaceX raised an additional $ 850 million, according to a media report, bringing its valuation to about $ 74 billion.
SpaceX raised the funds at a price of $ 419.99 per share, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the financing. This is very timid for the notorious $ 420 mark that Musk said he had “guaranteed funding” to make Tesla private in 2018 – which the SEC claimed was a reference to marijuana culture.
It was the last round of financing after SpaceX raised $ 1.9 billion in August 2020, putting its valuation at around $ 46 billion. The company is swallowing money, while pursuing ambitious projects like the “constellation” of Internet satellites Starlink and starship rockets.
The jump in SpaceX’s valuation represents another victory for Musk, whose electric car company Tesla rose about 350% in value last year. This made the outspoken businessman one of the two richest people in the world.
SpaceX’s Starlink aims to build a “constellation” of satellites to provide high-speed internet to users worldwide.
Musk said on Twitter in early February, that “Starlink is an incredibly difficult technical and economic endeavor. However, if we don’t fail, the cost to end users will increase every year.”
“SpaceX needs to go through a deep abyss of negative cash flow next year or later to make Starlink financially viable.” In a separate tweet, he said, “As soon as we can predict the cash flow reasonably well, Starlink will do the IPO.”
SpaceX was contacted for comment.