INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Several weeks ago, the WSJ reported that SpaceX, Elon Musk rocket company, was set to raise $500 millionfrom earlier shareholders and the
Scottish money management firm Baillie Gifford Co
in a bid to help get its internet service business off the ground.
The Hawthorne, Calif
company still hasn&t announced the round, but it nevertheless made things official today, filing with the SECmore details about the
Though the filing doesn&t confirm Baillie Gifford involvement, it does show that the company has secured from 8 investors at least $273.2
million toward a planned $500 million round.
It also, notably, lists the involvement of longtime investor Steve Jurvetson, who has been on
the board of both SpaceX and Musk car company, Tesla Motors, for 10 and 13 years, respectively
Why it worth mentioning: After Jurvetson left DFJ, theventure capital firm he co-founded, in 2017 amid questions about his personal conduct,
there was uncertainty around whether he would keep those director positions
Indeed, at the time, a Tesla spokesperson told the outlet Recode thatSteve Jurvetson &is on a leave of absence from the SpaceX and Tesla
boards pending resolution of these allegations.&
DFJ investigation into those allegations led the firm to later apologize for an event
hosted at the Half Moon Bay home of Jurvetson, which reportedly featured sex and drug use
Musk, however, who attended the event, suggested that it was far more sedate, telling WIRED at the time, &If there are ‘sex parties& in
Silicon Valley, I haven&t seen or heard of one
If you want wild parties, you&re in the wrong place
That DFJ party was boring and corporate, with zero sex or nudity anywhere.&
Either way, Jurvetson wasted little time in forming a new
venture firm, Future Ventures, which has been up and running for 11 months and looks to fund startups incommercial space exploration, deep
learning, quantum computing, robotics, AI, blockchain, sustainable transportation, synthetic biology and clean meat.
Now we know that he
remains involved in SpaceX, too, even while sources suggest he is still, 13 months later, on leave
(Neither Jurvetson nor SpaceX has responded to requests for comment for this story.)
It not so surprising, given that Musk and Jurvetson
have enjoyed a long relationship
In fact, because SpaceX remains privately held andMusk holds super-voting shares, he has extra power in corporate decison-making, as Recode
noted in a more recent report.
Meanwhile, publicly traded Tesla has also stuck by Jurvetson
Despite changes to the board composition that were brought about as part of its settlement with the SEC — late last year, it added new
board members Larry Ellison and Kathleen Thompson-Wilson, and Robyn Denholm replaced Musk as chairman — Jurvetson remains a
director.
Assuming SpaceX closes its newest round of funding, it will have raised $2.5 billion in equity funding altogether,according to Dow
Jones VentureSource.
Other outside directors listed on the new filing include Luke Nosek of Founders Fund; Donald Harrison, a longtime
Googler who is currently the company&spresident of global partnerships and corporate development; Kimbal Musk, brother to Elon; and Antonio
Gracias of Valor Equity Partners.
Kimbal Musk and Gracias, like Jurvetson, also sit on the board of Tesla, much to the chagrin of one
prominent shareholder advisory firm that has urged the company to boot them out.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who is Senior Associate Dean for
Executive Programs atYaleUniversity School of Management, also thinks they should go, calling them &cronies& and characterizing Musk refusal
to part ways with Jurvetson in particular &irresponsible.&
&It some of the bro culture loyalty that Musk defends,& says Sonnenfeld of the
fact that Jurvetson remains a director with both companies while remaining on temporary leave.
Not holding any punches, Sonnenfeld further
blames for the SEC for not doing even more about Tesla board when it tangled with Musk last year
&The SEC didn&t even think of this oddity as a governance concern
The fact that [both companies] have this director on there, who, even if he is completely innocent, has been unable to serve the interests
of the company now for 13 months, is just one of the many ways that Musk so artfully outmaneuvered the agency.&
Directors &have to represent
all owners of a company,& adds Sonnenfeld
&If Jurvetson and Musk have some personal bond, then Musk could hire him as an advisor or consultant
But he shouldn&t be in an agency role
These aren&t city council meetings.&
According to the WSJ earlier report, SpaceX new round will be used to finance a new satellite internet
service, one whose early designs suggest it could be powered by more than 4,000 satellites orbiting the earth at low altitudes.
Update:
Note, an earlier version of this story noted that Jurvetson remains involved in SpaceX but did not report on his continued status on
