A handful of venture firms placed early bets on Elon Musk’s rocket company. Those bets are about to pay off in a way that makes typical venture returns look like pocket change.
SpaceX is gearing up for what would be the largest IPO ever, targeting a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $1.8 trillion. At that price, early investors Founders Fund and Valor Equity Partners are each expected to realize returns exceeding $60 billion.
The numbers behind the monster listing
SpaceX plans to sell roughly 555.6 million shares at $135 each, aiming to raise $75 billion in total proceeds. The company filed its S-1 with the SEC on May 20, 2026, following a confidential submission back in April, with the listing targeted for on or around June 12.
Investor appetite has been aggressive. Total orders reportedly surpassed $250 billion, making the offering nearly fourfold oversubscribed. BlackRock alone submitted an order exceeding $5 billion.
Retail investors showed up in force too, contributing more than $100 billion in orders. But their allocation was reportedly scaled back to roughly 20% of the offering.
For context, the previous record holder for largest US IPO was Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing, which raised about $25.6 billion. SpaceX is aiming to nearly triple that figure.
Why Founders Fund and Valor stand to win biggest
Both firms invested early in SpaceX when the company’s valuation was a tiny fraction of its current target. More than $60 billion each. To put that in perspective, that’s roughly equivalent to the entire market capitalization of companies like Target or Deere & Co.
Then there’s Musk himself. With approximately 40% economic ownership of SpaceX, a successful listing at the targeted valuation could make him the world’s first trillionaire. He’s agreed not to sell any shares for at least one year following the IPO.
Starlink is doing the heavy lifting
SpaceX reported revenue of $18.7 billion in 2025. Starlink contributed approximately 61% of that total, making it responsible for roughly $11.4 billion in revenue.
A $1.75 trillion valuation on $18.7 billion in revenue implies a price-to-sales ratio north of 90x.
What this means for investors
The $250 billion in total orders suggests institutional and retail investors alike view SpaceX as a generational asset. The anticipation is that SpaceX will join the Nasdaq 100 shortly after its debut, which would trigger automatic buying from index funds and ETFs that track the benchmark.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper is ramping up its own satellite internet constellation, and while Starlink has a massive first-mover advantage with thousands of satellites already in orbit, competition tends to pressure margins over time.
Musk has agreed to a one-year lockup, removing the risk of insider selling in the near term. His approximately 40% economic ownership means the company’s largest shareholder has no immediate financial incentive to manage short-term stock performance.