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SpaceX Is Raising A $500 Million Funding Round At A $25 Billion Valuation

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SpaceX

On April 5, SpaceX authorized a $507 million round of Series I funding, venture capital research firm PitchBook reports. Priced at $169 per share, this round would bring SpaceX's total valuation to $25 billion.

If the full round is completed, this would bring the total amount of venture capital raised by SpaceX to about $2.25 billion. According to PitchBook, about $100 million shares will be purchased by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk directly, with the other $400 million coming from other investors, led by Fidelity Investments. Fidelity is already an investor in SpaceX, having jointly invested $1 billion with Google in 2015.

With seven successful launches in 2018, including the first launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket, Space X is having a banner year. The company's next launch is currently scheduled for April 16. That launch will place NASA's newest space telescope, TESS, into orbit. (Read more about TESS here.)

SpaceX also saw good news recently regarding the controversy regarding the launch of the "Zuma" spy satellite in January. The satellite, which cost $3.5 billion to develop, was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket - seemingly successfully - before ultimately failing in orbit. However, reports this week from both the Wall Street Journal and ABC News claim that investigators have cleared SpaceX of any fault with respect to the satellite's failure. The failure is instead being attributed to the satellite contractor.

The new investment is also good for Elon Musk's personal wealth. Even though he's putting in $100 million of his own money, Forbes estimates that after the round closes, Musk's share of SpaceX will be worth an estimated $11.5 billion - up from the current estimated $10.2 billion.

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