Cathie Wood may have timed her Elon Musk bet just right

On June 12, SpaceX turned one of Wall Street’s hottest listings into a full-blown market event.

Investors were bracing for a choppy debut, given its enormous valuation, heavy Musk premium, and questions about whether a rocket-and-satellite company could justify AI-stock-style pricing.

Instead, SpaceX’s IPO landed with force, raising $75 billion and jumping almost 20% in its first day of trading, according to CNBC.

Naturally, that switched up the math for one of Elon Musk’s most loyal backers.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest had already built SpaceX into the biggest holding in its internal venture fund, adding exposure before the public market had a chance to bid up the story. Investors kept debating over SpaceX being expensive, but Wood was already positioned for the pop.

Now, the IPO’s aftermath turns her risky Musk bet into a major validation.

Why SpaceX’s IPO changes the math for Cathie Wood

SpaceX’s IPO essentially turns Cathie Wood’s long-running Elon Musk thesis from a private-market bet into a public-market scorecard.

ARK Invest built SpaceX into the biggest holding in its roughly $1 billion internal venture fund before everyday investors could buy the stock directly according to Business Insider.

The firm first bought into SpaceX in late 2023, when the company was valued at under $200 billion, according to Business Insider.

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That timing becomes as pertinent as ever.

SpaceX’s public-market debut gave investors a fresh way to value one of Musk’s most important companies.

Also, the IPO’s strong early reception puts Wood’s conviction back in focus, and challenges investors questioning ARK’s appetite for volatile, high-growth names.

Wood did not just buy into SpaceX before the IPO. 

ARK also added to its position in 2025 and gained more exposure through its stake in xAI, merging with Musk’s rocket company earlier this year.

She calls it a moon-and-Mars opportunity and essentially “the convergence of a lifetime", while ARK’s own model said Starlink was the “financial engine” and launch services were the “foundation” of the valuation. 

Wood has been a long-time supporter of Musk. Speaking on CNBC’s ETF Edge, as covered by Fortune a few years ago, she had this to say about his response during periods of turmoil:

“These difficult times, though, spur Elon’s creativity. He is a troubleshooter and a brilliant technologist.” 

Put simply, SpaceX’s IPO may have made Wood’s Musk bet look much less speculative.

Key numbers in SpaceX’s historic IPO

• SpaceX raised $75 billion in its IPO, giving the company a huge capital cushion to fund Starship, Starlink, satellite expansion, and its longer-term Mars ambitions. For investors, the sheer size of the raise points to tremendous demand but also raises the bar for execution, Reuters reports.
• The company priced its IPO at $135 per share, valuing SpaceX at roughly $1.75 trillion before trading began. Investors are apparently treating SpaceX like a traditional aerospace company, valuing it more like a dominant space infrastructure and satellite network platform, according to Reuters.
• SpaceX’s valuation reportedly climbed to about $2.1 trillion after shares jumped nearly 20% in their first day of trading, according to The Guardian.
• The IPO pushed Elon Musk’s net worth past $1 trillion, making him the world’s first trillionaire. Musk’s fortune is now being evaluated as being more closely tied to SpaceX’s public-market performance, according to Business Insider.
• At a $1.75 trillion valuation and reported 2025 revenue of $18.67 billion, SpaceX would trade at nearly 94 times trailing sales. That is the clearest risk number, leaving virtually no room for disappointment. 

Ark Innovation ETF’s top holdings show heavy Tesla exposure 

• Tesla (TSLA): 10.22%.
• Tempus AI (TEM): 5.06%.
• CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP): 4.95%.
• Robinhood Markets (HOOD): 4.75%.
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): 4.73%.
• Shopify (SHOP): 4.44%.
• Roku (ROKU): 4.24%.
• Circle Internet Group (CRCL): 3.65%.
• Coinbase Global (COIN): 3.61%.
• Twist Bioscience (TWST): 3.33%.
  Source: Robinhood, ARK Innovation ETF holdings, as of June 10, 2026.

What Elon Musk’s trillionaire milestone means for investors

Elon Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire isn’t just another wealth headline to brush aside.

I feel his new status highlights how much of SpaceX’s valuation is tied to investor confidence, especially in his ability to turn long-term technology visions into dominant businesses. 

To put numbers behind that argument, SpaceX shares surged 19% in their Nasdaq debut, bumping the company’s value past $2 trillion and making it the sixth-biggest U.S. company by market value, according to Reuters.

For years, Tesla was the primary public-market proxy for investors who were looking for exposure to Musk’s broader empire. 

Of late, though, the stock is deep in the red.

It lost around 10% year-to-date and over 9% in the past six months, according to Seeking Alpha.

SpaceX now gives investors a cleaner way to bet on rockets, satellites, AI infrastructure, and Starlink without using Tesla as the stand-in.

However, the risk is valuation. 

Reuters noted that over 510 million shares traded on the debut day, worth about $84 billion, even though SpaceX remains unprofitable. 

That adds to the argument that Musk’s trillionaire milestone is a sign of both enormous confidence and extreme expectations.

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