“The company received ‘insane demand’ of about $6 billion in offers over just three days.” (CNBC)

According to a CNBC exclusive, Elon Musk’s SpaceX raised $850 million last week, selling shares at $419.99 a share, and garnering a valuation of $74 billion. So eager were investors for a piece of the funding pie that offers worth $6 billion poured in over just three days. Company insiders and existing investors, therefore, sold another $750 million of shares into the demand. (CNBC)

Last August, the space venture raised nearly $2 billion at a valuation of $46 billion. The current valuation is therefore up by over 60% from that tag.

SpaceX will use the funding to advance its cash-hungry Starlink and Starship projects.

SpaceX: Starlink

The Starlink project will deliver high-speed internet across the globe using a network of thousands of satellites (a “constellation”) suspended over the earth in a low Earth orbit (LEO).

Starlink has already launched more than 1,000 satellites.

It has commenced delivering initial beta service both domestically and internationally and will continue expansion to near-global coverage of the populated world in 2021.

The project was previously estimated to cost over $10 billion.

When complete the network could generate as much as $30 billion of revenue annually, according to CNBC. However, in the interregnum, Musk warned that it could face the pains from “a deep chasm of negative cash flow.”

Musk also said Starlink would launch an IPO when cash flow stabilized.

Starship

Starship (Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket) will be a fully reusable transportation system to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Capable of carrying as much as 100 metric tonnes into Earth orbit, Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle under development.

Starship is 16-storeys tall and constructed of stainless steel. It is undergoing tests during which the high altitude SN8 and SN9 Starship prototypes blew up on their final descent.

SpaceX said of the SN9 failure: “These test flights are all about improving our understanding and development of a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration, interplanetary flights.”

The SN10 is scheduled for a test flight in the coming weeks.

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Image Credit (Flickr): Starship SN9 High-Altitude Flight Test