Under the AI, space, and super IPO craze, why are pre-IPOs starting to receive more attention?

For a long time, many investors have been accustomed to viewing an IPO as the moment when a company's value is formally recognized by the market. When a company goes public, institutions begin coverage, the public market forms a price, and investors complete value discovery through trading—this has seemed like a fixed pattern in the capital market for years.

However, over the past few years, this situation has been changing. More and more super unicorns are choosing to delay their IPOs, completing most of their value accumulation before entering the public market. The market often reaches a broad consensus on the valuation, growth potential, and future competitiveness of these companies long before their IPOs.

SpaceX, which has recently attracted significant attention, is a typical example. The company completed its largest-ever IPO at $135 per share, raising $75 billion, and subsequently saw its market cap briefly surpass $2 trillion in trading. For many investors, the IPO itself is no longer the beginning of the story but rather a collective pricing of the company's growth over the past decade or so. This has also led more people to focus on a new topic: if a company's value is already formed before going public, how should the market understand and participate in the price discovery during this phase?

IPO Is No Longer the Starting Point of Price Discovery

Looking back at the most talked-about tech companies globally over the past decade reveals a clear trend.

Companies are going public later and later. Meanwhile, their pre-IPO valuations are getting higher and higher. Before its formal IPO, SpaceX's market valuation had already reached approximately $1.75 trillion to $1.8 trillion. Although OpenAI is not yet public, its latest fundraising round valued it at over $300 billion. Star companies like Stripe and Databricks have also accumulated massive market value in the private market.

This means that an IPO is no longer the moment when a company's value begins to form. Instead, it acts more like a public confirmation node. By the time they go public, companies have already completed product validation, business model maturity, and market expansion. The capital market merely further showcases the previously formed value system through public trading.

Therefore, the market's focus has started to shift.

Investors are increasingly concerned about what happens before a company goes public, how the market forms a valuation, and how prices become gradually accepted.

What Is Pre-IPO Price Discovery

Pre-IPO price discovery can be understood as a series of judgment processes the market undertakes regarding a company's value before it formally enters the public market. These judgments typically come from multiple aspects. When a company's operating data shows sustained growth, the market begins to reassess future revenue potential; when the competitive landscape of the industry changes, investors adjust long-term growth expectations; when new funding rounds occur, they further impact market valuation levels.

These factors continuously accumulate, ultimately forming the market's overall judgment of a company's future value. In the past, this process primarily occurred in the private market. Venture capital institutions, private equity funds, and large capital completed pricing through financing and equity transactions, making it difficult for ordinary investors to participate. However, with the development of digital assets and financial technology, new forms of pre-IPO price discovery have emerged. The market aims to establish more transparent and open participation mechanisms, allowing continuous price signals to form even during the pre-IPO phase. Pre-IPOs have gradually gained attention in this context.

Why SpaceX Is the Most Typical Case

If we look for the most representative case of pre-IPO price discovery, SpaceX is undoubtedly one of the most followed companies. The reason is not just its valuation scale. More importantly, the market's pricing logic for SpaceX itself has been evolving.

Initially, the market viewed it as a commercial rocket company.

Then, the rapid expansion of Starlink positioned SpaceX as a key player in global satellite internet.

In recent years, as the importance of artificial intelligence, data transmission, and space infrastructure has increased, the market has begun to assign more long-term value to SpaceX.

Therefore, the valuation the capital market gives to SpaceX is no longer based solely on current revenue.

It incorporates multiple long-term growth narratives:

• Commercial space infrastructure;
• Global satellite internet network;
• AI and data transmission capabilities;
• Long-term space economy development potential.

For this reason, the market has maintained a high valuation for SpaceX over the long term. Even after going public and experiencing volatility, investors continue to focus on its future growth potential.

In a sense, SpaceX's IPO is just a continuation of the pre-IPO price discovery process, not its starting point.

How Gate Pre-IPOs Enable Participation in Pre-IPO Price Discovery

As the market increasingly emphasizes the pre-IPO phase, digital Pre-IPOs products have started to attract attention. Gate's Pre-IPOs is a digital participation mechanism built around this market demand. It focuses on the value stage before a company's formal IPO, allowing users to observe and participate in the value change process early through digital subscriptions and asset certificates.

The overall process is relatively straightforward. After users participate in project subscriptions, the system allocates according to rules, then issues asset certificates and moves to the pre-market trading phase. During this process, the market's judgment of a company's future value gradually reflects in price changes. Compared to traditional private markets, digital Pre-IPOs introduce new approaches in terms of participation methods and market transparency.

For investors focused on the growth journey of super unicorns, it provides a new window into the pre-IPO market.

How SPCX Helps Understand Digital Pre-IPOs

In Gate Pre-IPOs, SPCX is a relatively easy-to-understand case. SPCX corresponds to a value-mapping asset for SpaceX's pre-IPO market. By nature, it is not SpaceX stock nor does it represent equity in the company. It uses a Mirror Note structure, primarily reflecting the market's expectations of changes in the target company's value.

This means that investors are not participating in ownership of the company but rather in the market's judgment process regarding the company's future value. When the market is optimistic about a company's long-term development, expectations may shift; if the market makes new assessments regarding future growth potential, the related price will also be affected.

Therefore, SPCX is more like a window into pre-IPO price discovery. It helps investors understand how the market forms a consensus on value before a company formally goes public.

Is the Pre-IPO Market About to Enter a New Stage of Development?

Based on current trends, there are increasing signs that the importance of the pre-IPO market is continuously rising. Companies are taking longer to go public, the number of super unicorns is growing, and the market's attention to the pre-IPO value stage is heating up. At the same time, the development of digital technology is enabling greater efficiency and more flexible participation methods in the pre-IPO market.

In the future, IPOs may no longer be the only phase of value discovery. Company growth, market expectations, and valuation formation may all take place earlier. And Pre-IPOs are becoming an important bridge connecting the private and public markets.

For the capital market, this might signify a new change: value discovery is gradually moving forward from the day of going public to an earlier stage in a company's growth.

FAQs

What is pre-IPO price discovery?

Pre-IPO price discovery refers to the process in which the market forms price judgments around a company's value, growth potential, and future expectations before its formal IPO.

Why are more companies choosing to delay their IPOs?

Because the private market offers richer financing channels, enabling companies to obtain long-term capital support while maintaining greater operational flexibility.

What is the difference between Gate Pre-IPOs and traditional IPOs?

Traditional IPOs involve issuing shares to the public market, while Gate Pre-IPOs focus on the pre-IPO phase, allowing participation in value changes through digital assets.

Is SPCX SpaceX stock?

No. SPCX is a Mirror Note structure, which does not represent actual stock nor grant shareholder rights.

What are the risks of Pre-IPOs?

Pre-IPOs involve the pre-IPO market and may face risks such as valuation volatility, liquidity changes, and adjustments to the timeline of going public. Investors need to fully understand the relevant mechanisms and participate cautiously.