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Elon Musk’s rocket maker SpaceX is lining up four Wall Street investment banks for leading roles on a blockbuster initial public offering, which is likely to be the world’s largest ever new listing.
SpaceX executives have held meetings with bankers from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley in recent weeks as the company prepares for an IPO as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The rocket group, which is the world’s most valuable start-up, held talks in December over a private share sale at an $800bn valuation, more than double its previous value of nearly $400bn.
Since its founding more than two decades ago, SpaceX’s valuation has soared as it cemented its status as a leading developer of commercial rockets for space exploration and as owner of the Starlink satellite internet service.
A SpaceX IPO would seek to raise tens of billions of dollars, most likely surpassing Saudi Aramco’s $29bn raise in 2019 to become the largest ever public listing.
The banks declined to comment. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other banks are also likely to land roles on the listing, the people said, cautioning that no final decisions had been taken.
SpaceX’s preparations come alongside the potential for US mega listings by AI groups OpenAI and Anthropic. Those three deals alone could raise more funding than all of last year’s US IPOs, analysts say.
Other large private companies in contention to go public this year include data analytics group Databricks, which has been valued at $134bn, and the $42bn design platform Canva. Exercise-tracking app Strava is also expected to launch its IPO over the coming months.
Market volatility could yet derail those plans, however. US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies resulted in a quieter-than-expected IPO market last year.
Trump’s initial “liberation day” tariff announcements in April weighed on equity markets and delayed several large tech IPOs, frustrating investment bankers who had tipped the listings market to roar back to life following a three-year drought.
The sector has since gained momentum as companies pursue long-delayed plans to list, buoyed by rising stock markets.
Investors have bet that Musk’s technical edge and ties to Trump will increase his advantage over SpaceX’s rivals.
In September it agreed a $17bn deal to buy wireless spectrum licences from embattled operator EchoStar to bolster its Starlink network, allowing Musk to expand its services in the US.
Musk has also capitalised on increased investor appetite for backing AI companies, raising $20bn for his xAI group this month. That deal more than doubled the valuation for xAI — which develops the chatbot and model Grok — after it had targeted a $15bn round at a $230bn valuation.
The xAI fundraising came amid scrutiny for the group after its AI image generation feature Grok created sexualised images of adults and children without their consent.
Musk has continued to court controversy in recent days, escalating a dispute with Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary that began when the Irish executive ruled out adding Starlink internet to the European airline’s planes.