SpaceX's $75bn IPO: the largest ever, and India is watching

The News

SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq on 12 June 2026 under the ticker SPCX, pricing its shares at $135 and selling 555.6 million of them to raise roughly $75 billion. By size of proceeds, that makes it the largest initial public offering ever recorded.

Elon Musk, who held 85.1% of the company's voting power going into the listing, keeps more than half afterwards, preserving the tight control he is known for. The flotation is widely positioned to make him the world's first trillionaire, at least on paper. Around 4,400 staff stand to become millionaires once their holdings vest.

The numbers underneath the hype are mixed. SpaceX booked revenue of over $18 billion in 2025 but posted a net loss of $4.9 billion, and its cumulative losses since inception now exceed $37 billion. The newly public entity bundles three businesses: Starlink satellite internet, the Starship reusable rocket programme, and xAI, its artificial-intelligence arm. Its S-1 filing warned of the potential for significant equity dilution in future deals, language that has fuelled speculation about an eventual Tesla merger.

Why It Matters

This is a milestone for both public markets and the AI build-out. When Saudi Aramco listed in December 2019 it raised about $25.6 billion and held the record for years; SpaceX's $75 billion nearly triples that, and it does so for a company still deep in the red. Investors are buying a promise rather than profits, much as they did with Amazon for most of its first decade.

The AI angle is hard to miss. Ahead of the listing, the group disclosed enormous compute commitments, paying Anthropic around $1.25 billion a month and Google roughly $920 million a month on a shorter-term basis. Folding xAI into the same listed vehicle as Starlink and Starship signals that Musk wants satellites, rockets and frontier models funded from one balance sheet. That concentration of compute spending also tells you how expensive the race to build advanced models has become for everyone in it.

Indian Angle

For India, the most immediate consequence sits with Starlink. The service has spent years navigating Indian licensing and spectrum approvals, and a parent company freshly armed with $75 billion has far more firepower to push into rural broadband. That sharpens the contest with home-grown and Bharti-backed rivals such as Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance's satellite venture, and it raises the stakes for regulators weighing how satellite spectrum should be allocated.

Indian retail investors are not shut out either. Under the Reserve Bank's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, residents can send up to $250,000 abroad each year, and platforms plus the GIFT City IFSC route increasingly let them buy US-listed shares. SPCX will land on plenty of Indian watchlists, though the company's heavy losses make it a high-volatility bet rather than a safe parking spot for rupees.

There is a confidence signal too. A near-record valuation for a spacetech firm reframes funding conversations for Indian startups like Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos, Pixxel and Dhruva Space. With IN-SPACe reforms already opening the sector to private capital, a global benchmark of this scale gives Indian founders and their backers a louder pitch.

FAQ

When did SpaceX start trading?

SpaceX shares began trading on the Nasdaq on 12 June 2026 under the ticker SPCX, priced at $135 each. The company sold 555.6 million shares to raise roughly $75 billion, the largest sum ever raised in an IPO.

Can Indian investors buy SpaceX shares?

Yes, indirectly. Indian residents can invest in US-listed stocks through the Reserve Bank's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which permits up to $250,000 abroad annually, as well as via GIFT City and several brokerage platforms. Given SpaceX's losses, treat it as a volatile, speculative holding.

What does this mean for Starlink in India?

A listed, well-funded parent strengthens Starlink's hand as it pursues Indian operating approvals and rural broadband customers. It intensifies competition with rivals such as Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance's satellite arm, and adds pressure on regulators deciding how to allocate satellite spectrum.

How does this compare to past IPOs?

At about $75 billion raised, SpaceX's listing nearly triples Saudi Aramco's $25.6 billion debut in December 2019, the previous record. Unlike Aramco, however, SpaceX is loss-making, so investors are pricing in future growth across satellites, rockets and AI rather than current earnings.

Where can I read the original announcement?

The IPO and its S-1 filing details were reported by TechCrunch. A direct link to the full original coverage appears in the source attribution at the foot of this article.

This story was reported by TechCrunch. Read the full original coverage at TechCrunch.