New York, June 12, 2026, 16:22 (EDT)
- SpaceX started trading at $150, hit almost $168, and closed at just over $161 a share. The close put the company’s market cap around $2.1 trillion.
- 137 Ventures holds a bit more than 1% of SpaceX, a stake worth about $20 billion if the company lists at the expected $1.77 trillion IPO valuation.
- SpaceX reported a $4.937 billion net loss for 2025 and another $4.276 billion net loss in Q1 2026, according to its offering paperwork. Still, the company is set for a windfall.
SpaceX made its public debut Friday, turning from one of Silicon Valley’s most-watched private names into a $2 trillion-plus public company and handing early investors a big windfall. The stock priced at $135, raising $75 billion, according to the Associated Press. That tops the record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019 for largest IPO. Shares started at $150, climbed to about $168, and closed just above $161. SpaceX’s market cap finished at roughly $2.1 trillion.
SpaceX’s long-awaited listing delivered for Justin Fishner-Wolfson and 137 Ventures. The low-profile VC firm spent 15 years building a stake, now just over 1% of SpaceX, according to Newser and The New York Times. That piece is worth about $20 billion at the company’s projected $1.77 trillion value before SpaceX shares climbed Friday.
Fishner-Wolfson, 44, started following SpaceX back in 2008 as a junior staffer at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, which had put $20 million into SpaceX while the company’s future was still up in the air. His own firm first bought into SpaceX in 2011 and hasn’t sold any shares since, according to the report. “This will most likely define my career,” he told The New York Times, quoted by Newser. Newser
The SpaceX debut called attention to how 137 Ventures built its stake by backing or buying shares from private-company employees and holders well before going public. Fishner-Wolfson wants to hand out SpaceX shares to investors in his firm, letting them decide if they want to sell—though pre-IPO investors can’t sell for months after the listing. He’s also indicated he isn’t eager to sell his own shares.
SpaceX is pitching the IPO as a way to ramp up growth, not just with rockets but also with satellites, orbital data centers, and AI. Nasdaq said SpaceX, using the ticker SPCX, kicked off trading with an opening bell event. The AP said Musk was present for the ceremony remotely from Starbase in South Texas, repeating his aim “to make life multiplanetary.” Musk told viewers, “SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars and ultimately beyond.” Nasdaq
The 137 Ventures win is one of several fortunes still connected to Elon Musk’s longtime circle. Antonio Gracias, who leads Valor Equity Partners, first put money into SpaceX back in 2008 and stuck with it as the firm grew, The Economic Times said Thursday. The paper said Gracias, a close Musk supporter, also gave Musk a $1 million short-term loan during the 2008 crunch—a detail that came up too in a new Yahoo Finance profile on Gracias.
Still, SpaceX’s first-day surge hasn’t settled debate over valuation, governance, or execution risk. SEC filings show Class A shares get one vote each, but Class B shares have 10 votes and keep most power with high-vote holders. SpaceX also told investors it has had net losses before, posting a $4.937 billion loss in 2025 and losing $4.276 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
The AP said Morningstar analysts put SpaceX’s value at $780 billion, well below the company’s opening market capitalization. The analysts pointed to SpaceX’s large capital needs and technology that still has to prove itself. That disconnect is now at the center of the SpaceX public market story: investors are buying into Musk’s push in space, connectivity, and AI, while early backers like 137 Ventures are now turning years in the private market into one of venture’s biggest paper wins.
