Catch up with Elon Musk's rocket! SpaceX plans to go public in June, and the space-themed ETF's quarterly inflow has reached a new high since 2019.

SpaceX is preparing to enter the public markets, and the news is triggering a surge of capital across space concept stocks.

According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, SpaceX has secretly filed for an IPO, and its target valuation has been raised to over $2 trillion; it may be listed as early as this June.

The news has sparked investors’ enthusiasm to get in—the space-themed fund Procure Space ETF pulled in nearly $175 million in net inflows in the first quarter of this year, setting a record for the fund’s highest single-quarter inflow since it was launched in 2019.

Procure Space ETF currently indirectly holds a small stake in SpaceX through EchoStar Corp., a satellite and internet services provider controlled by Charlie Ergen.

Meanwhile, the basket of U.S. space concept stocks tracked by Bank of America has risen 23% since the start of this year, sharply outperforming the S&P 500’s decline of 3.4% and the Nasdaq 100’s drop of 4.2%.

The SpaceX effect: A trillion-dollar valuation draws capital into the space sector

The market expectation that SpaceX will go public is the core driving force behind this round of capital fervor in the space sector.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Procure Space ETF recorded nearly $175 million in net inflows in the first quarter of this year—its highest single-quarter level since it was launched in 2019. With a market value of about $415 million, the fund’s size is not large relative to the inflow scale, underscoring how concentrated this capital surge is.

ProcureAM Chief Executive Officer Andrew Chanin said, Procure Space ETF currently indirectly holds a small stake in SpaceX through EchoStar Corp., a satellite and internet services provider controlled by Charlie Ergen, which holds a small portion of shares in the Musk-founded company.

“Market frenzy around a stock that could end up being the largest IPO in history is having tangible effects,” Philip Blancato, chief market strategist at Osaic Holdings, said. As the 15th-largest institutional holder of Procure Space ETF, he said that his investment advisory firm is receiving a large number of client inquiries, seeking exposure to investment opportunities related to SpaceX.

Miller Tabak + Co. Chief Market Strategist Matt Maley directly attributes the current wave of heat to SpaceX’s IPO being close at hand and Musk’s star effect. “Well-known billionaires are pouring into the space space, giving the sector market attention it hasn’t seen in decades,” he said.

Space concept stocks have outperformed major indexes this year

Among the basket of space concept stocks tracked by Bank of America, the standout gainer is satellite Earth-imaging company Satellogic Inc., with a near-280% increase year to date.

The company is backed by Liberty Strategic Capital, which is under Steven Mnuchin, and Cantor Fitzgerald LP, which is run by Howard Lutnick’s children, the U.S. secretary of commerce.

Other notable gainers include satellite communications firms Iridium Communications Inc. and Planet Labs PBC.

This strong performance stands in sharp contrast to the broader market—while the S&P 500 has fallen 3.4% year to date and the Nasdaq 100 has dropped 4.2%, the overall basket of space concept stocks is up 23%.

Space race 2.0: Lunar development and national strategy provide long-term support

In addition to the market expectation for SpaceX’s IPO, the intensification of the global space race also provides deeper fundamental support for the sector.

The four astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission recently completed a first-ever human journey to the moon in more than 50 years aboard their spacecraft, and this past Monday they set a record for the farthest flight distance in human history. At the same time, both the U.S. and China are investing tens of billions of dollars to advance human lunar landing plans, further reviving investment heat across the entire industry.

“A true Space race 2.0 is unfolding, and the core question is who will be the first to establish a permanent base on the moon,” Chanin said.

Major contractors for the Artemis II mission include Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris Technologies. These companies are also core defense contractors for the U.S. military. The high overlap between the space and defense tracks further broadens the investment logic for this sector.

Blancato noted that this generation of space investments is fundamentally different from past defense-driven logic: “You’re no longer building guns and bombs—you’re building satellites and drones, which is completely different from the way we’ve thought before.”

Investment focus shifts: From space tourism to satellites, data centers, and lunar infrastructure

Although the entire space sector is heating up, the specific sub-segments investors are focused on have shifted significantly.

Chanin said that the space tourism concept that grabbed headlines a few years ago—including Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Virgin Galactic Holdings, founded by Richard Branson—has gradually faded from the market’s spotlight.

Investors’ attention is turning to satellites, communications technology, and emerging areas such as space data centers and lunar infrastructure.

This trend reflects the market’s re-pricing of the commercialization pathway of the space economy: moving from early concept speculation that used space tourism as a gimmick to a shift toward hard-tech infrastructure backed by real business models and national strategy.

Philip Blancato candidly acknowledged that even five years ago, investing in space-themed funds like Procure Space ETF still seemed, in his view, like a “crazy” idea—but now, as governments around the world continue to add fuel to the fire with stimulus policies, his view has changed completely.

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