SpaceX raises $1.9 billion in latest funding round: report

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, on May 30, 2020, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, on May 30, 2020, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

SpaceX has raised over $1.9 billion in new funding this month, representing its largest single fundraising round to date,  according to a report from SpaceNews. 

A regulatory filing on Tuesday (Aug. 18) showed that 75 investors made equity investments in Elon Musk's launch company. SpaceX is also selling an additional $165 million in common stock, which would put the final amount of new funding at $2.07 billion, SpaceNews reported. 

The California-based company raised more than $346 million in May after increasing the ceiling to $350 million, up from $250 million in February, according to the company's earlier filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). "None of those SEC disclosures were filed at the end of SpaceX's fundraising rounds. If both rounds are funded to completion, then SpaceX will have raised $2.41 billion," Space News reported.

Related: See the evolution of SpaceX's rockets in pictures

SpaceX has seen a lot of success this year, making the company favorable in the eyes of investors. The company's successes include the historic Demo-2 mission, which launched on May 30. This mission marked the first crewed test flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule and the first time astronauts launched to orbit on a commercial spacecraft.

The mission successfully wrapped up on Aug. 2, when the Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX said that the mission's success bodes well for the company's future, including tourist flights. 

SpaceX also recently beat out Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman in securing military satellite launch contracts with the Pentagon. SpaceX, along with the United Launch Alliance, will provide launch services for U.S. national security missions from 2022 to 2027. Under this contract, SpaceX will launch 40% of those missions and has already received a $316 million contract for one such mission, according to Space News. 

Earlier this month, SpaceX successfully launched dozens of Starlink internet satellites and two small Earth-imaging satellites on Aug. 7. The Starlink satellites belong to the "megaconstellation" of thousands of internet satellites SpaceX is building for global internet connectivity. SpaceX's two-stage Falcon 9 rocket carried the satellites into orbit. 

Related: SpaceX's Starlink satellite megaconstellation launches in photos

On Aug. 18, SpaceX successfully launched another Falcon 9 rocket that reused the same first-stage booster for a sixth time, setting a new record for the reusable rockets. 

SpaceX is also preparing for its first operational crewed flight for NASA, which is scheduled to launch on Oct. 23. The Crew-1 launch will send NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins and Shannon Walker, and Japan's Soichi Noguchi to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

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Samantha Mathewson
Samantha Mathewson
Contributing Writer

Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News. When not writing or reading about science, Samantha enjoys traveling to new places and taking photos! You can follow her on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13. 

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Old Space nut
    The Starlink constellation is going to obsolete most internet providers so yeah, I can see why there are people jumping on this bandwagon.
    Reply
  • Hughjer
    Old Space nut said:
    The Starlink constellation is going to obsolete most internet providers so yeah, I can see why there are people jumping on this bandwagon.

    SpaceX is a no-brainer at this point. I find it interesting how Jeff Bezos' Amazon just got FCC clearance yesterday to start launching broadband satellites into orbit, but by the time they finally do, SpaceX will already have the entire Gen-1 StarLink constellation up and running.

    Then of course is the obvious success of SpaceX launching astronauts to the space station (a feat that others said would never happen), being the first commercial company to launch astronauts into orbit (a feat that others said would never happen), is able to launch heavy payloads into orbit and return the boosters to Earth for multiple reuse (a feat they said would never happen), and has not only invented but tested the first full-flow combustion rocket engines with stable chamber pressures as high as 330 bar, both respectively were previously thought to not be feasible.

    SpaceX has shown what real ingenuity, hard work, and perseverance can really do in the private sector, and outclass everyone else in the arena. Investing in such a company is an easy decision.
    Reply
  • Lovethrust
    Old Space nut said:
    The Starlink constellation is going to obsolete most internet providers so yeah, I can see why there are people jumping on this bandwagon.

    It’s meant to provide coverage in far off locales with no current internet coverage. It won’t be able to compete over built up areas because of cost and bandwidth limitations. Just like the iridium phones never were able to compete with land based celluar.
    Reply