SpaceX Upcoming IPO: Launches more liquidity events, but no clear signs of upcoming IPO

With Elon Musk as its founder, highly publicized rocket launches, and ambitious plans to send humans to the Moon and Mars, SpaceX has become one of the most well-known private companies. Now, SpaceX is also on track to become the world's most valuable private company, with talks of its latest tender offer valuing the business at $350 billion, according to Bloomberg.³

There has been much speculation around whether SpaceX will eventually go public via an IPO, such as with Vijay Marolia, Chief Investment Officer of Regal Point Capital, telling MarketWatch in early 2024 that a SpaceX IPO could come as soon as 2025 or 2026.⁴ Yet MarketWatch reported in December 2024 that the most recent tender offer talks suggest that an IPO is not on the table right now.⁵

Still, the most recent tender offer talks at a $350 billion valuation show a big jump from a tender offer reported by Bloomberg in June 2024 that valued the company at $210 billion⁶, as well as a tender offer reported in December 2023 that valued SpaceX at nearly $180 billion.⁷

SpaceX: Company background

SpaceX, formally named Space Exploration Technologies Corp., was founded in 2002,⁸ and the company is headquartered in the Los Angeles area in Hawthorne, CA — though the company is now planning on relocating its headquarters to Brownsville, TX.⁹

Musk recruited Tom Mueller as SpaceX's first employee, with Mueller instrumental in developing rocket engines that today power SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket.¹⁰ In 2020, however, Mueller left to start his own space company, Impulse Space, though the two companies are more complementary than competitors.¹¹

Rocketing toward new horizons

SpaceX stands out as arguably one of the most successful private aerospace companies, and its ability to reuse rockets — as opposed to them burning up upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere — has enabled the company to bring down the costs of satellite launches and other aspects of space aeronautics.¹²

In addition to grand ambitions like restarting human missions to the Moon and eventually colonizing Mars,¹³ SpaceX earns significant revenue from government contracts, such as working with NASA to make deliveries to the International Space Station.¹⁴ Since 2008, SpaceX has brought in nearly $20 billion from government contracts, primarily via NASA as well as some from the Department of Defense, according to USA Today.¹⁵

Recently, however, a subset of SpaceX has been a big money driver. Starlink — an internet service provider under the SpaceX umbrella that uses satellites launched by SpaceX rockets to deliver connectivity — is expected to bring in an estimated $11.8 billion in revenue for 2025, according to Quality Space.¹⁶

Yet SpaceX is even more bullish on the possibilities that could come from its next-generation reusable rocket, Starship, which is still in testing, but SpaceX is looking to ramp up launches in 2025.¹⁷ Part of that may depend on approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which Musk has criticized in the past, yet his relationship with President Trump and expected role in the new administration could potentially alleviate this issue.¹⁸

"Ultimately, I think Starship will be the thing that takes us over the top as one of the most valuable companies," said ​​Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX at the 31st Annual Baron Investment Conference, as reported by SpaceNews.¹⁹

SpaceX stock price history

SpaceX's Forge Price is $118.59 as of January 2025, which implies a valuation of $211.77 billion, up from an $85.04 Forge Price ($151.86 billion implied valuation) over a year ago.²⁰ Forge Price is a derived data point that reflects the up-to-date price performance of venture-backed, late-stage companies, and is calculated based on a proprietary model incorporating pricing inputs from primary funding round information, secondary market transactions, and indications of interest (IOIs) on Forge.

In comparison to SpaceX's nearly 40% gain over the past year, the Forge Private Market Index — a broad measurement that reflects the up-to-date performance and pricing activity of venture-backed, late-stage companies that are actively traded in the private market — is up 4.4%.²¹

SpaceX funding history and private market valuation

SpaceX's funding history dates back to its Series A in 2002, raising $30.5 million at a $122 million valuation. The company reached unicorn status in 2010 with its Series F, raising over $50 million from investors such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Founders Fund at a $1.02 billion valuation.²²

In 2015, SpaceX raised over $1 billion for its Series G at a $12 billion valuation, and in 2017 it raised nearly half a billion more at a $21.5 billion valuation,²³ with investors such as Zillow Group's CEO Spencer Rascoff joining in.²⁴

SpaceX's largest primary funding round was in 2020, with a $1.9 billion equity raise in 2020 for its Series N, valuing the company at $46.08 billion.²⁵

In 2021, the company raised another $850 million at a $74 billion valuation, with investors such as Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, and Fidelity Investments participating.²⁶

More recently, SpaceX has seen its valuation rapidly rise into the hundreds of billions based on tender offers.²⁷

Looking ahead

SpaceX has not publicly shared plans about a possible IPO, but it has been giving shareholders liquidity pathways via tender offers. Still, it remains to be seen whether SpaceX is content to grow as a private company while using tender offers to let early investors and employees cash out, or if it will eventually go public.

Check back here or take a look at Forge’s upcoming IPO calendar to stay in the loop about a possible SpaceX IPO and other pending public offerings.

If you’re interested in investing in private companies like SpaceX before they go public, read more about pre-IPO investing or register on Forge Markets today to get started.