For nearly two decades, some of the world’s most prominent investors quietly accumulated stakes in SpaceX while the rocket maker remained largely off-limits to the public markets.
Now, with Elon Musk’s company seeking a valuation of roughly $1.8 trillion in its initial public offering, those early bets are poised to generate some of the largest paper gains in venture capital history.
Among the biggest beneficiaries are veteran stock picker Ron Baron, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest and mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments. Also poised to win are venture firms including Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz as well as hedge funds such as D1 Capital Partners and Coatue Management. Select pension funds and endowments are also set to share in the windfall.
The gains are striking for investors who backed SpaceX before its success became obvious. Baron first invested in 2017 through employee tender offers when the company was valued at less than $22 billion and has since participated in 27 funding rounds.
By the end of March, SpaceX accounted for 33% of assets in the $10.4 billion Baron Partners Fund and 25.5% of the Baron Asset Fund, making it one of the firm’s most consequential investments.
We think that SpaceX will become the largest, most profitable company on the planet,” Baron said during an investor webcast this week. His firm has invested about $2 billion in the company over the years, a stake that has grown to roughly $12 billion, he said.
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan invested more than $200 million in SpaceX in 2019 through a newly created technology-focused investment vehicle at the time. Back then, the pension manager described SpaceX as “a compelling investment opportunity” because of its “proven track record of technology disruption in the launch space and significant future growth potential in the satellite broadband market.”
University endowments have also emerged as major beneficiaries. Washington University in St. Louis invested roughly $50 million in SpaceX nearly a decade ago, a stake that has appreciated dramatically as the company climbed toward its IPO valuation. The holding now accounts for more than 10% of the university’s approximately $17 billion endowment, according to Bloomberg News.
Washington University declined to comment, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan didn’t respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
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