SpaceX is now a $ 46 billion unicorn

The company recently completed a $ 1.9 billion financing round, one of the largest single lenders by any company in business, according to public filings and data collected by venture capital data firm Crunchbase. That brings the total valuation of SpaceX to $ 46 billion. The news was first reported by Reuters.

SpaceX now ranks third on a list of so-called ‘unicorns’, which are private startups with valuations above $ 1 billion, according to data from venture capital analysis firm CB Insights. The only two startups rated higher than SpaceX are two Chinese tech giants – rideshare company Didi Chuxing and TikTok parent company ByteDance.

Valuation of private companies is a matter of advice, as they are generally not required to share their financial information publicly, and companies negotiate new investments behind closed doors. SpaceX does not make its financial data available to the public. Wall Street has recently turned an increasingly skeptical eye on ‘unicorns’ who value those balloons while being kept private, only to float once they are listed on the stock exchange.

Morgan Stanley analysts, for example, wrote last month in a report that SpaceX could be worth as much as $ 200 billion if its experimental satellite internet project, Starlink, works as intended. Morgan Stanley said its low estimate for the value of SpaceX is about $ 50 billion.

And SpaceX’s other ventures – including launching astronauts and cargo for NASA, building massive prototypes for a wild Mars rocket, and launching satellites for the U.S. military – all give investors plenty of reason to scramble for a chance to own a piece of SpaceX , according to Chad Anderson, a SpaceX investor and CEO of investment firm Space Angels.

Anderson said that Space Angels participated in the last round of financing, and his previous interest in the company grew, although he declined to say how much his company had invested.

Anderson said that when SpaceX raises money, there are typically more willing buyers than there are opportunities to invest, and that holds true in this latest round of funding. That keeps existing investors happy, as it indicates that their stake in SpaceX remains rising in value.

Anderson admitted that SpaceX is not yet making a profit, but that’s mostly because it’s still spending large sums of money investing in new arms of its company, including the Starlink Internet company and its prototype Mars rocket, called Starship. And that leaves some room for debate when it comes to whether the rating of SpaceX is too high.

“I think there would probably be both arguments,” he said. “I think there are definitely a lot of SpaceX haters like naysayers.”

SpaceX has a lot to prove: Its Starlink Internet service, which is currently in beta testing, will have to prove to be affordable and reliable enough to attract a significant customer base. The Starship Mars rocket will also have to prove that they can launch satellites and, perhaps, human convoys at prices that make their development a worthwhile investment.

However, SpaceX has a pattern of proving its critics wrong, first by building the first commercial rocket to reach orbit, then by using reusable technology, and mostly by launching two NASA astronauts safely into space.

That’s the case why, says Anderson, it’s not wise to bet on SpaceX.