Musk’s SpaceX in talks to raise funds at $44bn valuation
Rocket company SpaceX is said to be in talks to raise a new round of funding at a $44bn valuation, following a successful few months for the tech firm.
SpaceX is seeking to raise approximately $1bn priced at $270 per share, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Helmed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, SpaceX secured $346.2m in fresh funding only two months ago at a valuation of about $36bn.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule delivered two Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in May, making history as the first US space capsule to do so with a crew on board in almost a decade.
Musk is also the chief executive of electric carmaking giant Tesla, which this month became the world’s most valuable carmaker.
It reported its fourth straight profitable quarter yesterday — a key metric for inclusion into the S&P 500 index.
The US space race has been heating up in recent months, with SpaceX facing challenges from firms such as billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
In June Virgin Galactic signed a deal with Nasa to develop a programme to promote private missions to the ISS.
Virgin will help identify and train new candidates to become astronauts for commercial space flight as part of the deal.
Nasa will also be working with space firm Axiom on the programme, which previously signed a deal with SpaceX to take a batch of passengers to the ISS next year.