SpaceX Gets $1 Bln In New Funding From Google, Fidelity Investments

(RTTNews) - Space Exploration Technologies Corp. said Tuesday that it has raised $1 billion in a financing round with two new investors, Google Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) and Fidelity Investments. The two companies will collectively own just under 10 percent of SpaceX through the investment.

The two new investors will join existing investors Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Valor Equity Partners and Capricorn. The latest investment would reportedly value SpaceX at more than $10 billion.

SpaceX said the funding will be used to support continued innovation in the areas of space transport, reusability, and satellite manufacturing.

The investment by Google is expected to support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globe to billions who do not have it.

Google said in April 2014 that it acquired solar powered drone maker Titan Aerospace, a startup that makes high-altitude unmanned aircraft. The company is looking to use thousands of the unmanned drones to provide Internet access to remote developing regions of the world. Google had earlier floated plans to use weather balloons to provide Wi-Fi to remote parts of the world.

Social networking giant Facebook Inc. (FB) acquired U.K.-based solar-powered drone maker Ascenta for about $20 million in March 2014 with the idea of delivering Internet via drones.

SpaceX, founded in 2002 by Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company's goal is to reduce space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars.

SpaceX is the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in December 2010. In May 2012, the company's Dragon spacecraft attached to the International Space Station, exchanged cargo payloads, and returned safely to Earth, in a technically challenging feat previously accomplished only by governments.

Most rockets are designed to burn up on reentry into earth's atmosphere, but SpaceX plans to land its rockets safely on Earth to be reused again. If successful, this will be a significant breakthrough in space programs and will substantially reduce the cost of such efforts.

GOOG closed Tuesday's trading at $506.90, down $1.18 or 0.23 percent on a volume of 2.22 million shares. However, in after-hours, the stock gained $0.35 or 0.07 percent to $507.25.