Elon Musk's SpaceX has attracted more than $70 billion in orders from retail investors ahead of its highly anticipated stock market debut, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. According to the report, individual investors are expected to receive at least 20% of the shares on offer.
The strong retail participation comes ahead of what is set to become the largest IPO in history. SpaceX is scheduled to begin trading on Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker symbol SPCX after pricing its shares at $135 each.
The company is raising about $75 billion through the offering, which values the rocket and satellite communications company at roughly $1.77 trillion. At that valuation, SpaceX would rank among the ten most valuable listed companies in the United States.
Investor appetite for the offering has been strong. Reuters reported earlier this week that total demand for the IPO had crossed $250 billion, more than three times the shares available.
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One of the unusual features of the offering has been the large allocation earmarked for retail investors. Reuters had previously reported that SpaceX was considering setting aside as much as 30% of the issue for individual investors, a rare move for a mega IPO that is typically dominated by institutional buyers.
The offering consists entirely of newly issued shares, meaning all proceeds will go to the company rather than existing shareholders. Current investors are not selling stock in the IPO and will remain subject to lock-up restrictions after listing.
The listing is being closely watched not only because of its size but also because it offers public investors their first opportunity to invest directly in what many consider the crown jewel of Musk's business empire.
SpaceX has evolved far beyond its rocket-launch business. Its operations now span satellite broadband through Starlink, commercial space transportation, defence contracts and artificial intelligence infrastructure through xAI.
Despite the excitement surrounding the offering, the company remains loss-making. SpaceX reported revenue of $18.67 billion in 2025 while posting a net loss of $4.94 billion. Investors are betting that future growth from Starlink, launch services, AI infrastructure and defence-related businesses will justify the company's lofty valuation.
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The IPO is also expected to benefit from recent changes to US index rules. Nasdaq now allows large-cap IPOs to enter the Nasdaq-100 index after just 15 trading days, potentially creating additional demand from passive funds that track the benchmark.
For Indian investors, direct participation in the IPO was largely unavailable because the US book-building process does not offer a mechanism similar to India's ASBA system. However, they will be able to buy SpaceX shares after listing through international investing platforms and GIFT City's NSE IX platform.
