Connect with us

Published

on

A long exposure photo shows the path of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it launched the ispace mission on Dec. 11, 2022, with the rocket booster’s return and landing visible as well.

SpaceX

Elon Musk‘s re-usable rocket maker and satellite internet company, SpaceX, is raising $750 million in a new round of funding that values the company at $137 billion, according to correspondence obtained by CNBC.

Last month, Bloomberg first reported that SpaceX was allowing insiders to sell at $77 per share, which would have put the company’s valuation near $140 billion. The company raised more than $2 billion in 2022, including a $250 million round in July, and was valued at $127 billion during an equity round in May, CNBC previously reported.

According to an e-mail sent to prospective SpaceX investors, Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) will likely lead the new funding round. Early SpaceX investors included Founders Fund, Sequoia, Gigafund and many others.

A16z also participated in Elon Musk’s leveraged buyout of Twitter, a $44 billion deal that closed in late October 2022.

SpaceX and a16z did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, SpaceX achieved several new milestones but faced delays to its Starship program, which is part of NASA’s effort to bring astronauts back to the moon.

On the upside, the company’s satellite internet service, Starlink, exceeded 1 million subscribers and provided a lifeline to users in Ukraine who suffered infrastructure disruptions after Russia’s invasion. SpaceX also managed to surpass 60 reusable rocket launches in a single year via its Falcon program.

The company is currently continuing development of its Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicles at the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. It’s not clear when the company will move to the next step of the program, which entails an orbital launch test of these larger vehicles.

As Musk has repeatedly sounded off about geopolitical issues on Twitter, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently asked SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell whether his “distraction” as the new owner and CEO of Twitter might affect SpaceX’s work with the space agency, NBC News reported. Nelson said that Shotwell reassured him it would not.

NASA is now considering whether SpaceX can help rescue residents on the International Space Station, including an astronaut and two cosmonauts with Russia’s Roscomos, according to CNET. Russia’s Soyuz capsule sprung a coolant leak in December, and an investigation is underway to determine if the spacecraft can safely return the crew home or if emergency measures will need to be taken instead.

Continue Reading

Technology

We’re looking to further trim this drug stock and exit this entertainment giant

Published

on

By

We're looking to further trim this drug stock and exit this entertainment giant

Continue Reading

Technology

JPMorgan Chase wins fight with fintech firms over fees to access customer data

Published

on

By

JPMorgan Chase wins fight with fintech firms over fees to access customer data

An exterior view of the new JPMorgan Chase global headquarters building at 270 Park Avenue on Nov. 13, 2025 in New York City.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

JPMorgan Chase has secured deals ensuring it will get paid by the fintech firms responsible for nearly all the data requests made by third-party apps connected to customer bank accounts, CNBC has learned.

The bank has signed updated contracts with fintech middlemen that make up more than 95% of the data pulls on its systems, including Plaid, Yodlee, Morningstar and Akoya, according to JPMorgan spokesman Drew Pusateri.

“We’ve come to agreements that will make the open banking ecosystem safer and more sustainable and allow customers to continue reliably and securely accessing their favorite financial products,” Pusateri said in a statement. “The free market worked.”

The milestone is the latest twist in a long-running dispute between traditional banks and the fintech industry over access to customer accounts. For years, middlemen like Plaid paid nothing to tap bank systems when a customer wanted to use a fintech app like Robinhood to draw funds or check balances.

That dynamic appeared to be enshrined in law in late 2024 when the Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized what is known as the “open-banking rule” requiring banks to share customer data with other financial firms at no cost.

But banks sued to prevent the CFPB rule from taking hold and seemed to gain the upper hand in May after the Trump administration asked a federal court to vacate the rule.

Soon after, JPMorgan — the largest U.S. bank by assets, deposits and branches — reportedly told the middlemen that it would start charging what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars for access to its customer data.

In response, fintech, crypto and venture capital executives argued that the bank was engaging in “anti-competitive, rent-seeking behavior” that would hurt innovation and consumers’ ability to use popular apps.

After weeks of negotiations between JPMorgan and the middlemen, the bank agreed to lower pricing than it originally proposed, while the fintech middlemen won concessions regarding the servicing of data requests, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Fintech firms preferred the certainty of locking in data-sharing rates because it is unclear whether the current CFPB, which is in the process of revising the open-banking rule, will favor banks or fintechs, according to a venture capital investor who asked for anonymity to discuss his portfolio companies.

The bank and the fintech firms declined to disclose details about their contracts, including how much the middlemen agreed to pay and how long the deals were in force.

Wider impact

The deals mark a shift in the power dynamic between banks, middlemen and the fintech apps that are increasingly threatening incumbents. More banks are likely to begin charging fintechs for access to their systems, according to industry observers.  

“JPMorgan tends to be a trendsetter. They’re sort of the leader of the pack, so it’s fair to expect that the rest of the major banks will follow,” said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.

Shearer, who worked at the CFPB under former director Rohit Chopra, said he was worried that the development would create a barrier of entry to nascent startups and ultimately result in higher costs for consumers.

Source: Robinhood

Proponents of the 2024 CFPB rule said it gave consumers control over their financial data and encouraged competition and innovation. Banks including JPMorgan said it exposed them to fraud and unfairly saddled them with the rising costs of maintaining systems increasingly tapped by the middlemen and their clients.  

When Plaid’s deal with JPMorgan was announced in September, the companies issued a dual press release emphasizing the continuity it provided for customers.

But the industry group that Plaid is a part of has harshly criticized the development, signaling that while JPMorgan has won a decisive battle, the ongoing skirmish may yet play out in courts and in the public.

“Introducing prohibitive tolls is anti-competitive, anti-innovation, and flies in the face of the plain reading of the law,” said Penny Lee, CEO of the Financial Technology Association, told CNBC in response to the JPMorgan milestone.

These agreements are not the free market at work, but rather big banks using their market position to capitalize on regulatory uncertainty,” Lee said. “We urge the Trump Administration to uphold the law by maintaining the existing prohibition on data access fees.”

Continue Reading

Technology

Founder Eric Gillespie fired from Govini board after child sex solicitation arrest

Published

on

By

Founder Eric Gillespie fired from Govini board after child sex solicitation arrest

Anton Petrus | Moment | Getty Images

Govini has fired Eric Gillespie from its board of directors after the founder was charged with attempting to solicit sexual contact with a minor online.

“The actions of one depraved individual should not in any way diminish the hard work of the broader team and their commitment to the security of the United States of America,” the defense software startup said in a release late Wednesday.

The company said the 57-year-old had no access to classified information since stepping down as CEO nearly ten years ago.

On Monday, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged Gillespie with four felonies, including multiple counts of unlawful contact with a preteen.

A judge denied bail for Gillespie, who lived in Pittsburgh, citing flight risk and public safety concerns.

At the time, the Pentagon officials told CNBC that they were investigating the arrest and possible security risks.

Read more CNBC tech news

Last month, the Arlington, Virginia-based startup surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and announced a $150 million growth investment from Bain Capital.

Govini has a more than $900-million contract with the U.S. government and deals with the Department of War.

Gillespie, who is viewed as an expert in government transparency, was named to the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee during the Obama administration in 2014.

He previously worked as an executive at business intelligence platform Onvia.

He is a graduate of Miami University and Harvard Business School.

Continue Reading

Trending