SpaceX, the space rockets company owned by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) boss Elon Musk, is plotting new funding to raise around US$500mln which would see the group valued at almost US$24bn (£16.9bn), according to news reports.
Filings obtained by private analytics firm Lagniappe Labs showed that SpaceX had authorised the addition of 3mln ‘Series I’ shares, website Tech Crunch said.
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Each of those shares will have a value of US$169 which would give the company an estimated worth of US$23.7bn, up from a previous valuation of US$21bn, making it the third highest-valued private company in the US.
The Tech Crunch reports said: “While the filing does not confirm that it has raised the full US$500mln, it serves as another data point to support that the company has picked up an additional huge influx of cash.”
The potential fundraising follows the successful launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket in February which marked the culmination of more than six years of work and took the company one step closer to its goal of offering space tourism.