SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., doing business as SpaceX, was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk and is headquartered at its Starbase site in Texas, having moved its headquarters there from Hawthorne, California, in 2024. It reports three segments: Space, which flies the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship launch vehicles and the Dragon spacecraft; Connectivity, which operates the Starlink satellite broadband constellation; and AI, run through the former xAI, which develops the Grok models and operates the social network X. Its largest customers include NASA, the U.S. Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.

SpaceX developed its first rocket, Falcon 1, with internal funding, and three failed launches between 2006 and 2008 nearly bankrupted it. Founders Fund was the first institutional investor; partner Luke Nosek led that investment and has sat on the board since July 2008, later continuing through Gigafund. Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson joined the board in March 2009 and Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners in October 2010. Over its first decade the company used about $1 billion in total funding, of which private equity supplied about $200 million, half from Musk. In January 2015 Google and Fidelity Investments invested $1 billion for 8.33% at a valuation of about $12 billion. Later rounds raised $350 million at $21 billion in July 2017, $1.9 billion at $46 billion in August 2020 and $1.61 billion at about $74 billion in February 2021. A 2022 round valued the company at $127 billion, and Andreessen Horowitz first invested in 2023.

On February 2, 2026, SpaceX acquired xAI in an all-stock deal that valued SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion. SpaceX filed for its IPO on May 20, 2026 and priced it on June 11 at $135 per share, offering 555,555,555 Class A shares, or about $75 billion, at a reported valuation of $1.77 trillion. Shares began trading on Nasdaq under SPCX on June 12. The prospectus reports total revenues of $18.67 billion for 2025, up from $14.02 billion in 2024 and $10.39 billion in 2023. After the offering Musk holds about 82.4% of the voting power through Class B shares carrying 10 votes each, making SpaceX a controlled company.

SpaceX is an example of an extremely long hold. Founders Fund entered in 2008, when the company was close to failure, and waited roughly 18 years for a public listing. The private valuation rose from about $1.3 billion in early 2012 to $1.77 trillion at the IPO, with capital raised mainly to fund Starlink and Starship. Investors who joined at the 2015 round, such as Google and Fidelity, bought at about $12 billion. The dual-class structure means public and venture shareholders hold economic exposure with little governance control.