News
SpaceX closes second billion-dollar funding round in eight months
Updated SEC documents show that the appetites of SpaceX’s investors weren’t quite sated after a February 2021 round of funding, leading the company to expand the offering and raise another ~$300 million.
Bumping the round’s proceeds from approximately $850 million to more than $1.16 billion, the second offering means that it’s now the third time in SpaceX history that a single round of funding has brought in more than $1B. In the midst of unprecedentedly capital-intensive investments into Starlink user terminal manufacturing and satellite production and launch, as well as an extremely aggressive Starship flight test program, the latest investment is par for the course during a prolific period of fundraising at SpaceX.
Around the end of February 2021, industry reports (later confirmed by an SEC filing) stated that SpaceX – on top of allowing shareholders to sell as much as $750M back to the company – raised nearly $850M in equity funding. Aside from raising the company’s valuation to $74B at a share price just shy of $420, insiders also reported that demand for SpaceX equity soared past $6B in the single week the round was open.
Two months later, an amended SEC filing shows that SpaceX expanded that round’s offering, adding another 30 investors and $315M for a total of $1.16B. The company’s need for capital has almost certainly never been higher, making the latest bump less than surprising. In the last ~18 months, SpaceX has built and launched some 1380 operational Starlink v1.0 satellites on 23 separate Falcon 9 missions.
Based on public information, each of those launches likely costs SpaceX at least $30M including 60 Starlink satellites, an expendable Falcon upper stage, recovery fleet operations, and rocket propellant – equating to roughly $700M for all 23 operational launches. Relative to prospective competitors like OneWeb, SpaceX’s costs are almost unbelievably low, but the company still needs substantial external funding to support its ambitious launch cadence and get Starlink operational and profitable as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s circa 2021 Starship program likely spends more than $100M annually on payroll alone, with at least as much going into major construction projects and prototype production as the company works towards an extraordinarily ambitious summer 2021 target for the rocket’s first orbital launch. All told, at least for the time being, SpaceX needs a ton of funding to support its ambitions beyond an already-healthy satellite, cargo, and crew launch business, and investors appear to still be frothing at the mouth to send SpaceX their money.
As of today’s SEC filing, of the $6.2 billion SpaceX has raised through 15 separate offerings spread over the last 19 years, nearly half of all that funding ($3.06B) has come from just two rounds closed in the last eight months.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
