SpaceX raises $1.68 billion in equity financing, pushing the rocket startup’s valuation to $127 billion

SpaceX has raised $1.68 billion in equity financing, the space rocket company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday. The announcement comes just about a month after the company raised over $1.5 billion to fund expansion.

In May, SpaceX disclosed it was looking to raise $1.725 billion to invest heavily in its Starship rocket development and Starlink broadband internet satellite constellation. The latest round of funding pushes the company’s valuation to $127 billion, according to a report from CNBC, citing a company-wide email.

We covered SpaceX a little over a year ago when the company raised $314 million in equity financing, adding to the $850 million funding we reported back in February 2021. Since its inception 20 years ago, SpaceX has raised a total of about $9 billion in funding over 35 rounds.

Meanwhile, earlier today, SpaceX received the long-awaited clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that its Boca Chica, Texas, Starship development site had no significant environmental impact, clearing the hurdle for the company’s Mars rocket’s development.

The FAA imposed over 75 conditions on the company which “include a review of 1) public safety issues (such as overflight of populated areas and payload contents); 2) national security or foreign policy concerns; 3) insurance requirements for the launch operator; and 4) potential environmental impact. ”

Referring to SpaceX Starship’s pivotal development milestone of reaching space for the first time, the company said in a tweet that it’s “one step closer to the first orbital flight test of Starship.”

One step closer to the first orbital flight test of Starship https://t.co/MEcQ6gST6Q pic.twitter.com/jxqEsM62gc

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 13, 2022

SpaceX was founded in June 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars. SpaceX is the first private company to send humans to the International Space Station. The company designs manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. develops crew and cargo capsules, engines, cryogenic tank structures, avionics, equipment, guidance, and control software.

Since 2019, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite unit has launched some 2,600 satellites to space as part of its plan to provide broadband internet worldwide. SpaceX said it plans to land its Starship rockets on Mars well before 2030.

SpaceX’s achievements include the first privately funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit (Falcon 1 in 2008), the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft (Dragon in 2010), and the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (Dragon in 2012), the first propulsive landing for an orbital rocket (Falcon 9 in 2015), the first reuse of an orbital rocket (Falcon 9 in 2017), the first private company to launch an object into orbit around the Sun (Falcon Heavy’s payload of a Tesla Roadster in 2018), and the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station (Dragon 2 in 2020).