SpaceX is raising $507 million in a funding round that will value Elon Musk’s rocket company at $25 billion, according to data from PitchBook. This would make SpaceX one of the most valuable venture-backed private tech companies, behind just Uber and Airbnb.
The Information was the first to report the funding round.
SpaceX authorized $507 million in Series I shares on Apr. 5. The company raised $450 million in November 2017 on a $20.8 billion valuation. SpaceX’s valuation has more than doubled from $10 billion since 2015.
The company, founded in 2002, has already had six missions in 2018, notably its February demonstration test flight of the Falcon Heavy, a powerful new rocket with three reusable side boosters designed to carry heavier payloads.
On Apr. 2, SpaceX launched its 14th commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station. After liftoff, the company’s Dragon spacecraft separated from its Falcon 9 rocket and attached to the space station on Apr. 4.
The Dragon is scheduled to depart the station in May and return to Earth with more than 3,500 pounds of research, hardware, and crew supplies, according to SpaceX.
The company, on Apr. 16, will launch NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (known as TESS) on a Falcon 9 rocket into high Earth elliptical orbit. The mission aims to identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants, using an array of telescopes to perform a two-year survey.
SpaceX has aspirations that reach far beyond its core Falcon 9 reusable rocket business. The company is working on its BFR rocket, a massive launch vehicle that’s intended to put humans on Mars. Musk said last month that the BFR rocket could launch in early 2019.
