Israeli institutional investors were due to take part on Thursday in SpaceX’s IPO, which had already drawn strong demand, Ynetnews reported. They join other long-term investors who together manage about $1 trillion in assets. Some institutions asked not to be named, saying their investment decisions are confidential.
It is a familiar role for them. Migdal and Clal put $170 million into Anthropic’s May offering, which Ynetnews said valued that company at $900 billion.
Yuval Bar-Evan, head of investment peers at Migdal, sees SpaceX as an established technology business with growth engines attached. “From our perspective, this is a technology company with multiple branches, some of which are mature and profitable, like Starlink, and others based on breakthrough technology that could, within a few years, take the company to amazing heights,” he said, pointing to Starship. Of Elon Musk, he said: “one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in the world.”
The pricing problem
Bar-Evan counts three main engines inside SpaceX. One, Starlink, is already profitable and has “almost monopolistic characteristics.” The other two still need heavy investment, though he said the company holds an advantage in both that is extremely hard to compete with.
Valuation is the sticking point. “Is a sales multiple of 80 or 120 correct? Hard to say. It’s not an exact science,” he said. He still sees room for the stock in portfolios, held passively through tech indices and the S&P 500 or directly “in the right proportion.”
An institutional investor who requested anonymity said some buyers will pay a premium because few companies can offer global communications independent of geography and also run space launches. Even investors who skip the IPO will end up exposed, this person said, since SpaceX is very likely to enter leading U.S. indices. The difficulty, the investor added, is not judging the company’s quality but pricing a valuation that resembles the largest companies in the world while significant parts of its operations are not yet profitable.
An early-stage space economy
TEMA manages the NASA ETF and holds exposure to SpaceX while it stays private. Chief investment officer Yuri Khodjamirian said high entry barriers make SpaceX a “gateway to space,” able to prioritize payloads and gain an edge over competitors.
He sees three businesses there: space, connectivity and AI. Rockets capture the public imagination and Grok, the AI from X, draws attention, he said, but “connectivity remains undervalued.” In his view Starlink alone could support a significant portion of SpaceX’s market value.
Launch costs have dropped about 90% in the last decade, largely due to SpaceX innovation, and that has opened the door to new markets. “Short-term uncertainty always exists, but the long-term opportunity looks stable and promising,” Khodjamirian said.
