Illustration: Madison Ketcham
How to Buy SpaceX
As Elon Musk’s startup aims for a 2026 IPO, eager investors must navigate private markets, investment vehicles with lots of caveats and plenty of uncertainty.
The constellation Monoceros, faintly visible against the Milky Way, has for centuries occupied the heavens as “the unicorn.” Another space unicorn? Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Well, make that “centicorn.” The billionaire entrepreneur’s onetime side hustle has, in less than two decades, evolved from a novel idea — reusable rockets — into one of the world’s most highly valued startups. The company launches satellites, operates the Starlink internet service and counts itself as a critical NASA subcontractor, ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Now set to combine with Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI, the enlarged entity could command a valuation of roughly $1.25 trillion when it lists in 2026.1