SpaceX raises $1.9 billion in equity

 

SpaceX raises $1.9 billion in equity

WASHINGTON — SpaceX has raised $1.9 billion this month as part of its second capital raise since the year began. 

Some 75 investors made equity investments in the Hawthorne, California-based launch company, according to an Aug. 18 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

SpaceX is selling another $165 million in common stock during the round, according to the filing, which would put the final amount at $2.07 billion. 

SpaceX raised at least $346 million in May after increasing the ceiling from a February round to $350 million from $250 million, earlier filings show. 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. 

SpaceX’s most recent funding round follows two high-profile successes with the U.S. government. 

In May the company launched astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station for NASA using a Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, called Demo-2, was the first astronaut launch from U.S. soil in about nine years. 

Earlier this month, SpaceX beat competitors Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman in a competition to launch military satellites for the Pentagon from 2022 to 2027. SpaceX and United Launch Alliance will launch up to 34 missions for the Defense Department under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement. Under the award, SpaceX will launch 40% of those missions and has received a $316 million contract for one such mission. 

SpaceX’s financial disclosure occurred the same day the company successfully launched and landed the same Falcon 9 booster for a sixth time, setting a record. Falcon 9 is designed to launch 10 times with the same first-stage booster, with refurbishment potentially increasing that up to 100 before retirement. 

SpaceX has launched 14 times in 2020, though nine of those launches were for the company’s own Starlink megaconstellation of broadband satellites. SpaceX has launched more than 650 Starlink satellites as it builds a constellation of thousands of satellites for global internet connectivity. 

SpaceX’s record is 21 launches in a single year, set in 2018 with 20 Falcon 9 launches and the inaugural Falcon Heavy mission. The company is designing a larger vehicle called Starship/Super Heavy for launching spacecraft and people. 

SpaceX lost four Starship prototypes in failures, but conducted a successful low-altitude free flight of the fifth, SN5, on Aug. 4. Company founder Elon Musk shared a photo of the next prototype, SN6, on Twitter Aug. 11. The next iteration, SN7, will test a new alloy to burst pressure, he said, while another, SN8, will introduce body flaps and a nose cone.

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