Musk's SpaceX secures $500m of funding for Starlink - report

Elon Musk’s space rocket company Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, is planning on raising $500m to get its internet-service functioning, according to a report on Tuesday.

Raising the funding from existing shareholders and investor Baillie Gifford will give SpaceX a valuation of $30.5bn, sources told The Wall Street Journal. Scotland's Baillie Gifford is already a major investor in another Musk company, Tesla.

SpaceX had already agreed with investors the financing terms but had not received the money yet, the Journal reported.

This deal will bring SpaceX’s funding up to about $2.5bn of equity funding, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

The funding will go to the company’s satellite internet service, Starlink, which would see 4,000 satellites orbiting Earth at low altitudes but could have as many as 11,000 satellites.

Although SpaceX would need over $10bn in capital to be able to fund 11,000 satellites in the constellation.