Blog SpaceX Banks $2 Billion Investment

SpaceX has closed a funding round of nearly $2 billion on the back of its 100th successful mission and its first crewed commercial flight. The funding round became public this week in a Securities and Exchange filing.

Bloomberg reported that the funding, SpaceX’s largest to date, boosted the company’s valuation to $46 billion.

As SpaceX has established itself as a reliable commercial carrier for cargo and humans traveling to space, it’s also betting on an ambitious plan to run an internet service powered by its constellation of Starlink satellites. It’s another line of business that could be worth billions.

SpaceX’s fleet of Starlink satellites now totals 653. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has said that 400 to 800 Starlink satellites in orbit will be capable of providing minimal internet coverage, and up to 1,600 to provide moderate coverage. The company plans a beta test in North America later this year.

SpaceX’s is also making progress on its next-generation rocket dubbed Starship. The company conducted a successful 150 meter test flight earlier this month at the company’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The prototype of SpaceX’s Starship advances the design of the vehicle that will transport humans to the Moon and Mars.

 

[nickysg]

As a long-term investor in Tesla I wish I could invest in Space X.
I guess that's only available to the mega rich folk in Silicon Valley.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

As a long-term investor in Tesla I wish I could invest in Space X.
I guess that's only available to the mega rich folk in Silicon Valley.

Well it's easier if you're rich, but you don't have to be giga rich.

 

[AltaVistaRider]

Well it's easier if you're rich, but you don't have to be giga rich.

 

[AltaVistaRider]

How does one invest in space X

 

[Toenee]

How does one invest in space X

It’s a private company so you can’t invest for shares, but if you’re rich enough you could ‘invest’ by purchasing a space flight.

 

[SO16]

It’s a private company so you can’t invest for shares, but if you’re rich enough you could ‘invest’ by purchasing a space flight.

Ron Barron has a fund you can invest in that has some SpaceX stock.

 

[philw1776]

Fidelity was a big player again in this round. If it's CONTRAFUND again, you could just buy that mutual fund.

 

[gchill]

As a long-term investor in Tesla I wish I could invest in Space X.
I guess that's only available to the mega rich folk in Silicon Valley.

I believe your best bet is to invest in Google, which I'm thinking of doing. Heard that the Ontario Teacher's pension is an investor in SpaceX but you can't get a piece of that if you're not an Ontario Teacher.

 

[Cattledog]

As a long-term investor in Tesla I wish I could invest in Space X.
I guess that's only available to the mega rich folk in Silicon Valley.

There have been methods in the past that have allowed people to invest in SpaceX, but they are very specific.

The following is a super simplified version of dozens of pages of signed legal docs with Sharespost that allowed our investment - I don't think any of this violates my NDA, or at least I hope not, since I believe it covered the time period before we invested:

Our investment was part of a capital raising round where SpaceX offered new shares to raise capital - at this time I don't believe SpaceX shareholders are selling shares through Sharespost. We are not $$$ enough to participate in a SpaceX capital raise directly, however Sharespost offered a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) where they created a fund that only owns SpaceX shares. You invest in the fund, they invest the fund in the SpaceX shares because they can aggregate multiple investors to participate in the capital raise. If/when SpaceX goes public, or perhaps spins off Starlink, your SPV shares convert to SpaceX shares or shares of the spin-off.

There are some important numbers to consider:

1. You have to be an accredited investor to participate, with net worth and annual income minimums.
2. The minimum purchase of the SPV was $250K.
3. The fees are hefty - essentially 7% to buy in and a 10% take by Sharespost at the exit of any appreciation in share value (technically, Sharespost contracted with a third party to execute this, I believe the 7% and 10% get split by the two groups).

We bought in in April at an enterprise value of $34B, it looks like the latest round priced at $46B I believe, so 35% upside in a few months - where else can you get that? Oh yeah, TSLA! We did essentially sell TSLA to invest in SpaceX, so an Elon Musk diversification of sorts.

Good luck,

Cattledog