SpaceX is lining up four major Wall Street banks for a potential 2026 IPO that could value the rocket and satellite company at $1.5 trillion, according to Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities. The move signals a potential reopening of the IPO market after years of drought, and it marks a dramatic shift for Elon Musk, who famously vowed not to take SpaceX public until rockets were flying to Mars regularly. In the meantime, secondary markets are booming as late-stage employees and early investors hunt for liquidity while SpaceX shares already trade above the company's recent $800 billion tender offer valuation.
SpaceX just sent a pretty big signal to Wall Street. The rocket and satellite company is in conversations with four major banks about a potential 2026 IPO that could value the business at $1.5 trillion, a dramatic jump from its recent $800 billion tender offer. For Elon Musk, who once insisted he wouldn't take SpaceX public until rockets were regularly flying to Mars, this marks a notable shift in strategy.
"It's a pretty big signal. I don't think they're just playing games," Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. Rainmaker specializes in secondary share transactions for late-stage private companies, and Martin has a front-row seat to the pre-IPO frenzy building around SpaceX and other mega-unicorns.
The secondary market is already pricing SpaceX well above that $800 billion mark. "We have seen a significant uptick in interest, both from a size and a price point - it's already pricing well above where the last tender round was and getting closer to that trillion and a half that they had discussed as a potential IPO price," Martin said. Rainmaker's platform traded over $1 billion worth of secondaries last year, its biggest year on record.
