Elon Musk's SpaceX to Raise $250 Million, Valuing It at $36 Billion: Report

Elon Musk's SpaceX is looking to raise about $250 million (roughly Rs. 1,797 crores), taking the private rocket company's valuation to about $36 billion (roughly Rs. 2,58,795 crores), CNBC reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the financing.

The company plans to raise the amount at a price of $220 (roughly Rs. 15,800) per share and the latest funding round is not expected to close until the second week of March, according to the report.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

SpaceX has been launching Starlink satellites in batches of 60 since May and currently has roughly 300 orbiting Earth in a sprint to make the broadband internet service operational in the United States and Canada by the end of 2020.

Chief Executive Musk plans to use the Starlink revenue to help fund development of its next-generation rocket dubbed Starship, which is designed to lift defense payloads to space and eventually send humans to the moon.

The company has long-term plans to spin Starlink off as a publicly traded company in the next several years, a company official told Reuters earlier this month.

The funding round reported by CNBC would come months ahead of SpaceX's first manned mission to space under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

The company's Crew Dragon space taxi is being developed alongside rival Boeing's Starliner capsule, both of which have suffered cost overruns and schedule delays in the space program.

© Thomson Reuters 2020