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Elon Musk's SpaceX set to raise $500m: Report

News Desk (Agence France-Presse)
New York, United States
Wed, December 19, 2018

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Elon Musk's SpaceX set to raise $500m: Report In this file photo taken on September 27, 2016 Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk speaks about the 'Interplanetary Transport System' which aims to reach Mars with the first human crew in history, in the conference he gave during the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. (AFP/Hector Guerrero)

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lon Musk's rocket company SpaceX plans to raise $500 million to help launch its satellite internet service, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

SpaceX will garner the funds from existing shareholders and a new investor, Baillie Gifford & Co, a Scottish money management firm that is also a major shareholder in the Musk-led Tesla Motors.

The new funding round lifts SpaceX's valuation to $30.5 billion, the newspaper reported. SpaceX could announce the deal by the end of the year.

SpaceX in November won authorization from US officials for a total of nearly 12,000 satellites into orbit in order to boost cheap, wireless internet access by the 2020s.

Serial entrepreneur Musk has risen to prominence with a series of ambitious ventures, especially Tesla, which has boosted production of its Model 3 electric car and has continued to enjoy strong demand for the vehicle. 

Other Musk ventures include OpenAI, Neuralink and the Boring Company.

Read also: Elon Musk says changing his way of working is not an option

But Musk has also drawn plenty of criticism over unconventional and at times erratic behavior. 

In an interview broadcast earlier this month, Musk openly mocked the US Securities and Exchange Commission after agreeing to a $20 million fine to settle fraud charges the agency had brought over Musk's quickly aborted effort to take Tesla private.

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