SpaceX's $85.7B IPO unleashes space startup boom

SpaceX's blockbuster IPO in June raised about $85.7 billion at $135 per share, setting a record for the largest IPO. Although shares have since fallen to $110 as broader stocks faced a downward slide, the true significance lies in its catalytic effect on the space industry. Investment in space companies had already begun accelerating in anticipation of the listing: global funding for space companies reached an all-time high $7.95 billion in the first quarter, nearly double the $3.93 billion invested in the previous three months. Investors completed 159 transactions during that quarter, bringing the trailing 12-month total to a record 654 deals.

The IPO has shifted how investors and entrepreneurs perceive space—no longer a government-only domain but a startup market open for disruption. Startups are emerging across diverse sectors: Beyond Reach Labs is building expandable solar panels for space, Galactic Resource Utilization Space (GRU) is pursuing the first lunar hotel, and others are exploring communications, drug development, and orbital computing. Keval Desai, founder and partner at early-stage investment firm Shakti VC, told Fortune that SpaceX's IPO could have as big an impact as Amazon's 1997 listing. Before Amazon went public, only a handful of e-commerce IPOs existed; hundreds followed as investors and entrepreneurs began treating online retail as a major market. Similarly, Desai predicted, "The next decade in space is going to be full of startups. Not just the large companies and the governments, but startups, or the true Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem participating in the space commerce economy."

One key enabler is SpaceX's technology: reusable rockets have cut the cost of sending mass into space by 95% since 2008, opening opportunities for startups to enter a landscape previously out of reach. Shakti VC itself is doubling down on the sector—currently about 10% of its portfolio is in space technology, but the firm expects that share to grow to between 25% and 30% over the next several years. Among Shakti's space investments is Cosmoserve Space, an Indian startup founded by Chiranjeevi Phanindra, a former scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization. The company is building a robotic spacecraft designed to capture and remove space debris—thousands of dead or decommissioned satellites in Earth's orbit that threaten space operations. The robot features soft "petals" inspired by the Venus flytrap, designed to wrap around objects of varying shapes and sizes; Phanindra claims the system could remove debris 10 times cheaper than competing approaches. In July, Cosmoserve conducted its first space test, launching its robot aboard Vikram-1, India's first privately developed orbital launch vehicle created by startup Skyroot Aerospace. Although the robot's petals did not deploy as expected, Phanindra said the company "collected some very critical information in the extreme space conditions" that will guide product improvements. Cosmoserve, which began operating in August 2025, raised $3.17 million in pre-seed funding and recently closed a seed round. Phanindra told Fortune that investor sentiment has shifted: "People are now considering space as a less risky item or less risky domain compared to a year back because SpaceX has proven that space will give a lot of returns to investors." Challenges persist—advanced knowledge is scarce, international regulations are complex, and funding for space startups remains limited—but Desai argued that SpaceX's IPO has lasting impact and will ultimately open capital markets for entrepreneurs building the next billion-dollar businesses.