The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s tunneling venture, is in talks to raise roughly $4 billion in a private stock offering at a valuation of about $20 billion, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The last time it was formally priced, back in 2022, the number was $5.7 billion. That’s a nearly fourfold increase in four years.
So what are private investors paying for? And what about Musk’s other, smaller ventures outside of Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX +15.83%) and Tesla (TSLA +2.83%)?
Image source: Getty Images.
What is the Boring Company and what’s it been up to?
The Boring Company is so-named because that’s what it does: bores through the earth. The massive tunnels are then converted into “hyperloops” in which Tesla’s cars can travel rapidly, without traffic, between major hubs. That’s the idea, at least.
The company’s Las Vegas Loop has moved more than 4 million passengers across 11 stations and will soon expand to include the nearby Harry Reid International Airport. This, according to the company, will take annual ridership from around 1 million to between 5 million and 10 million. Outside of Las Vegas, projects are planned in both Nashville, Tennessee, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The progress has not been without issue, however. The Vegas Loop still handles relatively little traffic, and firsthand reports of using the service leave many wanting more. It’s also run afoul of Nevada environmental regulators, who sent the company a cease-and-desist letter in September 2025 alleging roughly 100 violations of an earlier settlement and 689 missed inspections. The company disputes that letter.
Neuralink is making real progress — but commercialization is still years away
Neuralink, which is working to connect the human brain directly to computers, has made some real strides recently. Its brain-computer interface (BCI) — a chip that reads brain signals so a paralyzed person can control a computer by thinking — is already working and implanted in patients. Enrollment reached 21 people in January, up from 12 the previous September.
The company says it aims to reach $1 billion in annual revenue by 2031, though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have to give its regulatory approval for any commercial deployment.
Musk just bought a power company for over $1 billion
In May, Musk personally bought APR Energy, a Florida company that rents trailer-mounted turbines and generators. A minority investor’s disclosure implies a price above $1 billion.
APR has customers and projects in more than 35 countries and equipment that it can install in a month or two. Data centers waiting years for a grid connection will pay for that. SpaceXAI, for instance, has relied heavily on gas turbines at its Memphis Colossus data center.
What does this mean for you?
These are private ventures. You can’t buy shares in any of these companies, so why does it matter? Well, if you’re a SpaceX or Tesla investor, it’s a good idea to understand Elon Musk’s whole business ecosystem. There’s a good chance that at some point, one or more of these will be acquired by one of his public ventures — most likely SpaceX.
But if you ask me, none of them are promising enough to really move the needle for SpaceX or Tesla. I still consider both stocks overvalued.
