Elon Musk is eyeing an acquisition of Mesh Optical Technologies, a startup founded by three former SpaceX engineers last year developing hardware for fast data center communications. The potential acquisition, which was revealed in a Federal Trade Commission filing and first reported by Bloomberg, confirmed the agency expedited its antitrust review. Mesh Optical came out of stealth in February when it announced that it raised a $50 million Series A led by Thrive Capital. Before founding Mesh Optical, the startup's co-founders, Travis Brashears, Cameron Ramos, and Serena Grown-Haeberli, developed the optical communication links that keep thousands of SpaceX's Starlink satellites interconnected. The Mesh co-founders saw an opportunity to develop optical transceivers for terrestrial data centers, as light-based hardware is faster and more energy-efficient than traditional electrical-based systems.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Class A Common StockMusk's SpaceX is acquiring a startup that could strengthen its data center communications technology, potentially benefiting SpaceX indirectly, but the article focuses on the acquisition target, not SpaceX's stock.
Alphabet Inc Class CFTC cleared the acquisition, removing antitrust hurdle
Thrive Capital led Mesh's Series A; acquisition may yield return