From startup to $1.8 trillion: The investors who took a chance on SpaceX now reap the rewards
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- Ron Baron invested roughly $2 billion in SpaceX since 2017, and his stake is now valued at about $12 billion, representing 33 % of assets in the $10.4 billion Baron Partners Fund and 25.5 % of the Baron Asset Fund.
- Cathie Wood’s Ark Venture Fund holds SpaceX as its largest holding, accounting for 11.4 % of net assets as of March 31, and she describes the company as a vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform.
- Fidelity Investments’s Contrafund, Blue Chip Growth Fund, and Growth Company Fund own SpaceX at 4.7 %, 3.3 %, and 2.6 % of their respective assets, respectively, based on March 31 holdings.
- Founders Fund began backing SpaceX in 2008, and later investors such as Coatue Management and D1 Capital Partners entered through private rounds, benefitting from SpaceX’s tightly controlled cap table.
- Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan invested more than $200 million in SpaceX in 2019, and the stake now represents over 10 % of Washington University in St. Louis’s $17 billion endowment.
- Greg Martin of Rainmaker Securities said SpaceX’s tight cap table limited investors, giving early backers scarce, high‑value positions that amplified their returns.
Why it matters: Early investors are set to cash in billions, while the tight cap table limited broader investor access, concentrating wealth among a few institutions and funds. This underscores how private‑market scarcity can amplify returns when a high‑profile IPO finally opens the market.
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