4 Ways to Invest in SpaceX Stock in 2024
SpaceX is a company unlike any other.
Among other things, the company:
- Delivers satellites into orbit
- Shuttles astronauts to the International Space Station
- Tas taken individuals for rides into space
- Serves high-speed satellite internet via Starlink
But that's nothing compared to its ultimate objective: Transport people to, and eventually colonize, Mars.
This mission may prevent an IPO until SpaceX is consistently making these trips successfully.
If it were to go public before then, investors would have the power to force the company to give up on this goal in pursuit of more profitable, and less ambitious, ventures.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk knows this, and will keep the company private as long as he can. This way, he can make the strategic decisions without needing to answer to shareholders.
But that doesn't mean you need to wait to invest. Which is good, considering the trajectory of this business.
In the last 20 years, SpaceX's valuation has increased from $71 million in 2002 to $180 billion by the end of 2023, a 2,535x increase. If the company ever goes public, you can expect the valuation to be much higher.
Here are 4 ways to buy SpaceX stock today, despite it still being a private company.
1. Buy shares directly (from existing shareholders)
You can invest in shares of SpaceX through Hiive, which is a marketplace for private, pre-IPO companies.
As of the time of this writing, there are 4 unique listings for SpaceX on Hiive:
Hiive allows you to buy shares directly from sellers, which may include company employees, founders, venture capital funds, hedge funds or angel investors.
Investors can place bids and negotiate with sellers or accept their asking prices. Additionally, there are no fees for investors.
Check out the SpaceX listings available on Hiive, including asking prices and shares available:
2. Invest indirectly in public companies
While you may not be able to buy shares of SpaceX directly, there are other ways to gain exposure.
One way is to buy shares of a public company that has an investment in SpaceX.
So far, only 2 public companies have invested in one of its funding rounds: Alphabet (the parent company of Google) and Bank of America.
Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) first investment was in January 2015, when it invested $900 million at a valuation of $12 billion. It also invested in another funding round in December 2021, giving it a total stake of about 6.99%.
Given SpaceX's current valuation, Alphabet's investments are probably worth ~$12.6 billion.
Bank of America (BAC) invested $250 million in its November 2018 round at a valuation of ~$30 billion. This stake is likely worth about $1.5 billion.
You can buy shares of Alphabet or Bank of America in your brokerage account. If you don't have a brokerage account, I recommend checking out Public.
The downside to investing indirectly is each of these companies' stakes in SpaceX represents a tiny fraction of their businesses.
Alphabet is a $1.75 trillion company, so its $12.5 billion stake in SpaceX is only about 0.7% of its total business. Bank of America's market capitalization is $265 billion, so its $1.5 billion stake in SpaceX is just 0.6% of its total business.
Still, if you like either of these 2 companies and want to own them anyways, getting exposure to SpaceX is a nice bonus.
3. Invest in a fund
While Cathie Wood's Ark Invest has fallen out of favor, she does have a couple funds you may be interested in that are relevant for investing in SpaceX.
The Ark Venture Fund may acquire some SpaceX shares from Andreessen Horowitz as a part of the latest funding round, though this is largely speculation based on Ark buying shares of Twitter in a similar situation.
If Ark does strike a deal with Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z), be sure to double check how many shares it acquired or what percentage of the fund will be invested in SpaceX.
If you do decide to invest in this fund, be sure you like the rest of the companies that make up the fund, too.
You may also be interested in Ark's Space Exploration ETF, ARKX.
4. Invest in competitors and partners
If none of the above 3 methods interest you (or if you can't stomach SpaceX's nearly 20x PS ratio), you may be interested in investing in its competitors. Here are a few options:
While SpaceX develops the vast majority of its parts internally, there are also a handful of companies which SpaceX does business with which will directly benefit from any future success the company has:
You can buy any of these stocks in your regular brokerage account. If you need a brokerage account, click here to open an account on Public.
Or, if you're an accredited investor, you can invest in SpaceX on Hiive.
How much is SpaceX worth?
SpaceX has had 30 funding rounds and has raised $9.8 billion thus far, making it the most well-funded private company in the aerospace industry.
SpaceX was recently valued at more than $180 billion based on an ongoing secondary share sale, up from $150 billion in a similar transaction in July 2023. Here's a look at how the company's valuation has grown over time:
Regarding valuation multiples, SpaceX was on track to generate revenue of $9 billion in 2023 and projected $15 billion in revenue in 2024. At a $180 billion valuation (which Starlink stock makes up about half of), the company is currently trading at 20x revenue.
For the sake of comparison, Raytheon (RTX) generated $67 billion in revenue last year and has a market capitalization of $123.1 billion.
Frequently asked questions
Below are a few more questions people often ask about investing in SpaceX stock.
How to buy SpaceX stock?
SpaceX has not been made available to the public via an IPO or SPAC, but it is available on Hiive, our recommended pre-IPO investing platform. You can invest indirectly by buying shares of Alphabet or Bank of America, or by buying the Ark Innovation Fund which is expected to get cut a piece of Andreessen Horowitz’s latest stake.
How much is SpaceX stock?
SpaceX stock is not yet publicly traded and has no price per share. Its last round of funding valued the company at $137 billion.
What is the SpaceX stock symbol?
SpaceX is still a privately-held company. There is no stock symbol yet.
Who owns SpaceX?
SpaceX is partially owned by Elon Musk (its founder and CEO, who is estimated to own 42% of the company) and a host of other private equity firms, a few publicly-traded companies, and other investment firms.
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