As reported by BeBeez, the bank has invested a few tens of millions in the company, which is valued at around 141.7 billion euros
by Gian Marco Giura
Intesa Sanpaolo has invested in SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp), the aerospace company founded in 2022 by Elon Musk (see the press release here).
The specifics of the investment have not been disclosed but, as far as BeBeez is aware, it amounted to a few tens of millions of euro, in any case a double-digit investment not reaching three.
Intesa Sanpaolo ‘has recognised that the aerospace sector plays a particularly important role in the development of the world’s economies and has therefore decided to invest in a player that has demonstrated a cutting-edge vision of the near future’, the bank explained in a note released on Friday, giving a strategic angle to this operation, which would also have a further one, it was told to BeBeez: ‘It is about joining a circuit of companies in the sector and positioning itself as the potential bank of that market’s operators’.
As reported by Crunchbase, Intesa Sanpaolo reportedly acted as part of a debt financing round, which would be the 31st round of financing carried out by the American company that has so far raised a total of $9.8 billion (€9.256 billion) from 85 investors. The latest, says Crunchbase, would have been Intesa Sanpaolo itself and, in March this year, Saudi Arabia’s Water and Electricity Holding Company, part of the country’s sovereign wealth fund (Public Investment Fund – see ), and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which invests funds on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government.
Prior to the banking institution led by ceo Carlo Messina, in March of this year, the two aforementioned Arab entities would have been the ones to subsidise Musk’s company as part of a ‘multi-billion dollar financing round‘, Reuters had written, explaining that, as a result, ‘the company had reached a valuation of around $140 billion). In June, it had been the turn of Crimson Investment Fund, and even earlier, in January 2023, according to CNBC, the company had raised $750 million in a round headed as lead investor by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz (known as a16z), whose investment portfolio includes names such as AirBnb, Facebook, and Instagram, confirming the same valuation. According to Dealroom, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and Gigafund had also participated.
In 2022, meanwhile, SpaceX is said to have raised more than USD 2 billion (see CNBC and also a previous article by BeBeez), including a USD 250 million private equity round (see documents filed with the SEC – Securities Exchange Commission) in July, in which the Korean Mirae Asset Ventures had participated, together with the American Nomad Capital Partners, of New York, and Matthew Brown Companies, the Brown family office, as well as two entities based in Abu Dhabi, namely the hedge fund International Holding Company and the holding company Alpha Dhabi. As of May of that year (2022), the company had raised $1.72 billion (see documents filed with the SEC) with the participation of venture capitalists Space.vc and Massive VC and investment firm Kinetic Partners.
Among previous deals, SpaceX completed an equity round worth $850 million in February 2021, with a per-share value of $419.99, which followed the previous one in August 2020 in which the company raised $2.1 billion (see CNBC). SpaceX’s investors also include Fidelity Investments, Google (Alphabet), ventures Baillie Gifford and Buckhill Capital lp, and NASA.
Several activities have made Mr. Musk’s company attractive, which has become known worldwide for a series of historic achievements, according to the note issued by Intesa Sanpaolo, which explains how ‘in 2012 Dragon was the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station and in 2020 (SpaceX) was the first private company to transport people to the same station.
Its Falcon 9 is still the first and only reusable space module (rocket). This allows SpaceX to reuse the vehicle’s most expensive components, thereby reducing the cost of access to space travel. Thanks to these important achievements, SpaceX is developing the Starship project, a new generation of fully reusable space launch vehicles that will be the most powerful ever built, capable of transporting people to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. SpaceX can also draw on its vast experience in space launchers and in-orbit operations to develop the most advanced broadband internet communication systems. Starlink is the world’s first satellite internet system capable of delivering high-speed connections worldwide, supporting streaming services, online gaming, video calling and more.
