In addtion to the new funding, existing shareholders in the company are planning to sell shares on the secondary market. A secondary offering is when shares are offered for sale by private shareholders, such as directors or other insiders, this is one way that they can realise some of the shares value before an initial public offering (IPO).

According to TechCrunch SpaceX shares are selling for between $160 and $170, these offerings could raise an additional $500 million. Elon Musk is reportedly investing $100 million to buy up the shares. CNBC recently reported that Musk’s space exploration venture is worth roughly $21.5 billion. With Musk’s extremely ambitious plan to colonise Mars and conquer the space travel market, it is no surprise that his company is making serious financial moves to achieve his goals.

Cost Reduction is the Key to Space

This new funding follows an award of a lucrative $290m contract from the US Air Force to launch three global position system satellites into orbit by the end of 2020. Much of SpaceX’s success in the market is due to the fact they have been able to successfully reduce cost at every level of the supply chain undercutting their rivals. It is estimated that SpaceX rockets are $70m cheaper than other market offerings.

The company can offer these more attractive prices because their rockets have reusable boosters, which means you can launch more often and at a lower cost. Musk even offers 30% discount off the $65m cost of a ride into space for those willing to send their payload out on a ‘lightly used’ rocket. Last year it launched 18 rockets and this year it has announced plans to launch 40, leaving the likes of China and Russia in the dust by comparison.

Gwynne Shotwell President of SpaceX has said she aims to launch a mission every two to three weeks. Aside from this goal, the company also plans to put 4,425 satellites into orbit with the ambition of providing high-speed internet to poorly connected areas by 2019.