SpaceX is expected to submit its IPO application as early as this week, aiming to go public in June, or raise over $75 billion in funding.

Ask AI · Why is SpaceX breaking from traditional lock-up period arrangements and shifting toward individual investors?

SpaceX is accelerating the largest U.S. IPO process in history.

On March 25, according to technology news outlet The Information, a source with direct knowledge said the rocket and communications company owned by Musk plans to file its IPO registration statement with regulators as soon as this week or next week, with a target to complete the listing in June this year.

The report said the advisers involved in the preparations expect the size of this fundraising could exceed $75 billion, higher than the $50 billion estimate previously made by outside observers.

This planned listing is an unusual test of the market’s appetite. The latest round of pre-IPO funding has already valued SpaceX at $1.25 trillion, and if the fundraising size meets expectations, it will far exceed the total amount of funding in the U.S. IPO market for all of last year.

Meanwhile, last month SpaceX completed its acquisition of xAI, the AI company owned by Musk, for $250 billion. The prospectus may show the company is in a loss-making position, but market watchers noted that many institutional investors remain cautious about betting on Musk.

Individual investors get a larger allocation, and traditional lock-up arrangements may be broken

In terms of equity allocation, Musk has made it clear he wants to tilt toward individual investors.

According to the report, sources said that in a typical IPO, individual investors usually receive only about 10% of the allocation, but for this SpaceX deal the proportion directed to individual investors is expected to rise significantly, potentially to more than 20%; the exact percentage has not yet been finalized. This group includes retail investors who enter the market via brokerage platforms such as Robinhood, as well as high-net-worth customers at major banks.

In addition, SpaceX is not expected to use the standard six-month internal lock-up period arrangement for insiders that is common in the IPO market.

The report said sources explained that SpaceX, as a privately held company operating for more than 20 years, has an estimated cumulative financing volume of $10 billion. The adviser team hopes to prevent large-scale selling from causing a shock to the stock price through tailored arrangements, but the relevant plans are still being discussed.

On underwriting arrangements, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup have all participated in the IPO preparation work, but have not yet received formal mandates.

As The Information reported earlier, SpaceX has discussed different role-allocation models and plans to have each bank focus on different business lines rather than adopting the traditional lead-underwriter framework. In the weeks before the IPO, the company will finalize the actual fundraising size and the offering valuation.

On the investor-pitch strategy aimed at institutional investors, sources said the roadshow content will focus on three main lines: the space launch business that has become a stable source of revenue, the Starlink satellite internet business with rapid growth, and the future prospects of the company as a provider of orbit data center services.

Worth noting is that the social media platform X and xAI, both owned by Musk and expected to be integrated into SpaceX, are not expected to take up an important position in pitches to investors in the public market.

Analysts said this trade-off indicates that SpaceX’s IPO narrative will focus on highlighting its space and internet infrastructure attributes, while separating from Musk’s other controversial assets.