SpaceX raises $1 billion in funding from Google, Fidelity

[January 21, 2015]  (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), founded by Elon Musk, said it has raised about $1 billion in a financing round with two new investors, Google Inc and Fidelity.

Google and Fidelity will collectively own just under 10 percent of SpaceX, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

SpaceX said the funding will help it continue research in space transport, reusability, and satellite manufacturing.

Google and Fidelity join existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners and Capricorn.

Google has already a presence in the aerospace sector following a few high-profile acquisitions last year, including that of satellite company, Skybox Imaging for $500 million in June.

The announcement from SpaceX comes on the same day that Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based private satellite operator founded by former NASA scientists, said it raised $95 million to help build its business of selling satellite images and data to customers.

SpaceX backer Draper Fisher Jurvetson also participated in Planet Labs' latest equity round.

(Reporting by Avik Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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