LOS ANGELES, Dec 30 — Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has raised US$337.4 million (RM1.4 billion) in equity financing, the rocket company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. SpaceX, which counts Alphabet Inc and Fidelity Investments among its investors, hit US$100 billion in valuation following a secondary share sale in October, according to CNBC. It had raised about US$1.16 billion in equity financing in April.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters request for more details on the latest funding round.

The company competes with former Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s space venture Blue Origin and billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic in the burgeoning constellation of commercial rocket ventures.

All three rocket companies have successfully launched civilians into space.

According to Morgan Stanley, the space economy could be worth US$1 trillion by 2040.

Musk, who also leads several futuristic companies including Tesla Inc, Neuralink and Boring Co, said earlier this year that SpaceX will be landing its Starship rockets on Mars well before 2030.

SpaceX has already launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). — Reuters