Google and Fidelity have made a $1 billion investment in SpaceX, the private space exploration company founded by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk.
Rumors of the deal came earlier this week in a report from technology news site The Information, whose sources said that the deal — which only mentioned Google at the time — would value SpaceX at $10 billion.
That report was confirmed Wednesday by SpaceX itself, which wrote on its company blog that it "has raised a billion dollars in a financing round with two new investors, Google and Fidelity" which "will collectively own just under 10 percent of the company."
Google and Fidelity join existing investors Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Valor Equity Partners, and Capricorn.
"The funding," said SpaceX, "will be used to support continued innovation in the areas of space transport, reusability, and satellite manufacturing."
Tech experts said that Google has traditionally powered its Maps application with satellite images purchased from various satellite owners. With its own satellites, it could not only improve Maps, but offer other services as well, such as satellite Internet.
"With this investment, Google is hopping on a crowded bandwagon,"
The New York Times commented in reporting the deal.
"Last week, Virgin Group, along with Qualcomm, a maker of communications semiconductors, announced they had invested in a constellation of 648 Internet connectivity satellites. Also on Tuesday, Planet Labs, a maker of shoebox-size satellites that offer Earth imagery, announced it had received $95 million in financing."
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