Elon Musk’s SpaceX targets doubling valuation to $92 billion in next fundraise

SpaceX, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s space exploration company, is targeting a doubling of its valuation with a new private fundraising round. A few weeks after transporting Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station, the first time the U.S. space agency has contracted a rocket from a private sector firm, SpaceX is talking to investors again.

The fundraising is targeting a January close and comes just five months after SpaceX raised $1.9 billion from investors at a valuation of $46 billion. However, having now passed the milestone of running a revenue-generating trip to the International Space Station, the company is seeking to capitalise with a new investment round at a much higher valuation.

SpaceX has attempted, and looks to be succeeding in, bringing private enterprise efficiencies to the space exploration sector. Until a new breed of start-ups including SpaceX and Virgin Galactic arrived on the scene, space exploration has been entirely the domain of state-funded activities.

Musk however, in a fashion typical of the outspoken and often controversial entrepreneur, decided that a private enterprise approach to space exploration could make it much more cost efficient.

And early signs are promising. SpaceX has developed reusable rockets and capsules which host the astronauts, significantly bringing down the cost of each launch. It is also developing moon landing vehicles with the aim of putting American astronauts’ boots on the moon for the first time since 1972. Musk’s stated end game is human colonisation of Mars.

Thanks to the rapid increase in the valuation of electric car company Tesla this year, Mr Must is now the world’s second richest individual. At the beginning of 2021 Tesla was worth $75 billion and is now worth around $600 billion. If SpaceX succeeds in raising new investment at $92 billion, it will be one of the most valuable privately held companies in the world.

SpaceX’s most recent milestone was last week’s test launch of its prototype Mars rocketship, which was sent into high-altitude above the Texas desert. The Starship SN8, as the model has been named, flew over the Gulf of Mexico before a spectacular crash landing the produced an impressive fireball. The test flight was considered a success, with Mr Musk commenting “we got all the data we needed. Mars here we come!”

As well as rocketships, SpaceX also builds and launches satellites. The company’s first stable revenue stream is likely to be generated by its Starlink satellite constellation which aims to offer broadband internet access globally, including to remote, currently disconnected, regions.

Other private companies in the space exploration and satellite launch and constellation space are the Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. Mr Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, is the world’s richest individual.