NextFin News - 137 Ventures, a venture capital firm that has backed SpaceX for over a decade, has raised $700 million for a new fund dedicated to secondary market opportunities, according to Bloomberg. The capital injection arrives as Elon Musk’s space exploration giant prepares for what is expected to be one of the largest initial public offerings in history, with a target valuation reportedly reaching as high as $1.75 trillion. The fund, the sixth for the San Francisco-based firm, underscores the intensifying demand for private shares in "decacorns" before they transition to public exchanges.
Justin Fishner-Wolfson, founder and managing partner at 137 Ventures, has maintained a consistently bullish stance on SpaceX since his firm first invested in the company in 2010. Fishner-Wolfson has frequently argued that public markets systematically undervalue the long-term infrastructure potential of space-based internet and interplanetary transport. While his firm’s aggressive accumulation of SpaceX shares has proven lucrative as the company’s private valuation climbed from $137 billion in early 2023 to over $1.4 trillion this year, his perspective remains that of a concentrated specialist rather than a broad market consensus. His firm’s strategy of providing liquidity to early employees and investors—effectively buying their shares—positions 137 Ventures as a primary beneficiary of the upcoming listing.
The scale of the anticipated IPO is staggering. SpaceX reportedly filed confidential paperwork earlier this month for a June listing, aiming to raise more than $30 billion. This would shatter the previous record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019. The company’s financial engine is no longer just rocket launches; Starlink, its satellite internet constellation, generated an estimated $16 billion in revenue in 2025, a 31% increase from the previous year. This revenue growth has provided the fundamental justification for a valuation that now rivals the world’s largest technology titans.
However, the $1.75 trillion figure is not without its detractors. Some institutional analysts caution that such a valuation assumes flawless execution of the Starship program and a near-monopoly on global satellite broadband—a sector where competition from Amazon’s Project Kuiper and sovereign European projects is beginning to materialize. From a historical perspective, mega-IPOs often face a "liquidity hangover" where the sheer volume of shares hitting the market exhausts immediate demand, leading to post-listing volatility. The current geopolitical climate also adds a layer of complexity; with Brent crude oil trading at $119.34 a barrel and gold prices hovering near $4,577.81 per ounce, inflationary pressures and high interest rates could dampen the appetite for high-growth, capital-intensive stocks.
The 137 Ventures fundraise serves as a barometer for the "pre-IPO" market, which has seen a resurgence in 2026. By raising $700 million specifically to buy shares from existing holders, the firm is betting that the gap between the final private rounds and the public debut remains wide enough to capture significant alpha. For Musk, the IPO represents more than a financial milestone; it is the primary vehicle to fund his long-term ambitions for Mars colonization. For the broader market, it is a test of whether the public can support a company whose valuation is built as much on future frontier-tech promises as it is on current cash flow.
Explore more exclusive insights at nextfin.ai.
