Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket venture has filled out its latest funding round by attracting another $100 million in investments since August, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The amended forms bring the total value of the funding round that began in July to just under $450 million. Equidate, a service that estimates the worth of privately held companies such as SpaceX, puts the company’s total valuation at $21.5 billion.
SpaceX didn’t disclose who’s investing in the current Series H round, but the SEC filings suggest that four new investors joined in over the past couple of months. August’s filing said 21 investors were participating, but that figure rose to 25 in the documents filed on Monday.
The California-based company has plenty of projects that need support: It’s working toward the maiden launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket in early 2018, getting ready for its first crewed flight to the International Space Station later next year, building a new launch pad in Texas, and gearing up for the development of a monster BFR rocket that could take on crewed missions to the moon and Mars as well as point-to-point terrestrial travel.
SpaceX’s Seattle-area facilities, meanwhile, are taking the lead role in developing a constellation of thousands of satellites to provide global internet access from low Earth orbit. The first launch of a prototype satellite is expected sometime in the next few months, and commercial operations could begin as early as 2019.
Musk has said the network, which may come to be known as Starlink, should eventually earn enough money to “help fund a city on Mars.” In 2013, he said SpaceX would probably not go through an initial public offering until the Mars project was well under way. Despite that statement, rumors of a SpaceX IPO periodically pop up.
For comparison’s sake, it’s worth noting that Jeff Bezos says he sells about $1 billion worth of his Amazon stock annually to put toward his Blue Origin space venture. At that rate, Bezos could run out of money … in the year 2117.
