Elon Musk Is Raising $500 Million In Funding For SpaceX
Elon Musk is looking for a few good investors. The billionaire inventor behind Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly known as SpaceX, is seeking $500 million in the hopes of getting his internet service business up and running. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company has a valuation of an astonishing $30.5 billion.
The money is poised to be raised from an assortment of new and existing donors. Current shareholders are chipping in, as well as new investor Baillie Gifford & Co., which has a 7.6 percent stake in the company as of this writing. According to reports, financing terms have already been agreed upon, but the company has not yet received the agreed-upon sum of money.
SpaceX is no stranger to raising funding for its projects. Including this current round, the company has raised about $2.5 billion in equity funding. Last month alone it raised $250 million through its first high-yield loan sale — and it looks like there is plenty more funding on the way for the company.
Musk intends to use to funds to invest in SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has been dubbed Starlink. The project involves building over 12,000 individual satellites which will orbit the earth at lower altitudes and provide internet access to users.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2018
Approval for Starlink came in last month, giving Musk the all-clear to launch about 7,000 satellites into low orbit. Two prototype satellites were launched back in February, but reports indicate that progress on Starlink has not gone according to plan. In fact, the project was going so slowly that Musk fired several senior management team leaders in frustration.
Musk has stated that he intends to have the first set of satellites successfully in orbit by the middle of 2019. The hope is to successfully construct a low-cost, satellite-based broadband network that could bring internet access to the entire world. This could prove a huge benefit to more remote areas where internet access can be difficult to come by.
And that’s not the only multi-billion dollar project Musk is currently busy with. The Tesla CEO is also hard at work with his new Boring Co., which is designing and building new high-tech transportation tunnels.
Musk proudly showed off progress on the tunnels this Tuesday. The tunnels are an extension of the hyperloop concept Musk has been passionately promoting. His plan is to have cars put on underground platforms before being whisked down long tunnels that have been built below the surface of the Earth. Cars will fly down these tubes at hundreds of miles an hour, cutting down travel time and hopefully reducing some of the traffic plaguing the Los Angeles area.
