To unpack what SpaceX’s IPO chatter means, how private liquidity works before a debut, and what investors are looking for in today’s pre-IPO giants, we spoke with Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, a broker-dealer specializing in secondary share transactions for late-stage private companies.

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SpaceX is reportedly preparing for a potential 2026 IPO by lining up major Wall Street banks, which could signal the reopening of public markets after years of drought. In the meantime, late-stage private companies are creating liquidity through a booming secondary market where employees and early shareholders can trade shares before going public. Secondary markets provide price discovery and investor access to companies like SpaceX, Stripe, Databricks, and AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic. SpaceX's IPO could act as a bellwether, potentially unlocking capital markets for other large private companies. The company is trading above its $800 billion tender valuation in secondary markets, approaching the $1.5 trillion IPO price discussed. Despite Elon Musk's previous stance against going public, market conditions and capital needs for ambitious projects like Starship and space data centers make an IPO strategically sensible.

SpaceX’s IPO could open the floodgates — and secondaries are booming in the meantime

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