As anticipation builds around the potential SpaceX IPO — expected to be one of the largest public listings in history in the US — Indian investors are increasingly exploring ways to gain exposure to the fast-growing global space economy.
With India still lacking a pure-play listed space company, global space-focused exchange traded funds (ETFs) are emerging as an attractive route for diversification and thematic investing.
In an interaction with Kshitij Anand of ETMarkets, Subho Moulik, Founder and CEO, Appreciate explained why investors are looking at space economy ETFs ahead of the SpaceX IPO, the risks of chasing listing-day excitement, and how Indian investors can participate in the sector through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS).
He also highlighted why SpaceX represents a unique combination of telecom, AI infrastructure, and defence capabilities that could reshape global investing trends. Edited Excerpts –
Q) The SpaceX IPO is expected to be the largest ever attempted on Wall Street, potentially overtaking the 2019 debut of Saudi Aramco approx. $75bn (Rs 7 lakh crore). What are your views and could it trigger a fresh wave of global investor participation in US equities, especially from India?
A) SpaceX's S-1, filed May 20, targets a $1.75 trillion valuation and up to $75 billion in proceeds, roughly three times the record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019. That comparison is worth holding carefully.
Aramco listed exclusively on Saudi Arabia's Tadawul, drew 5 million retail subscribers who were overwhelmingly Saudi nationals, and hit $2 trillion intraday on day two.
Six years later, the cumulative total return is approximately 15% against 55–65% for ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell. Record listing and rewarding investment are not the same thing.
The 2025 US IPO market reinforced the point with sharper data. The Renaissance IPO Index returned 5% against the S&P 500's 18%. Figma closed its listing day at $115.50, subsequently reached $142, and trades near $22 today.
Venture Global priced at $25 and bottomed at $5.72. CoreWeave delivered +173% from its March 2025 IPO price as of May 2026. At $1.75 trillion, SpaceX is priced at roughly 94 times its 2025 revenue. That multiple asks investors to price in three distinct businesses reaching their long-run potential simultaneously.
SpaceX's underlying business is different from anything 2025 produced. Three businesses under one prospectus: Starlink generated $11.4 billion in revenue in 2025 at 63% EBITDA margins, with 10.3 million subscribers across 164 countries as of Q1 2026, numbers that reframe what a satellite-internet company looks like.
The Colossus AI data centre earns $1.25 billion per month from Anthropic alone under a three-year compute contract. The launch business holds roughly 84% of global orbital market share, with 165 orbital launches in 2025. SpaceX came back structurally stronger from two near-bankruptcies.
In 2008, Musk described the fourth Falcon 1 launch as "the last money we had." In 2021, the Raptor crisis email warned all employees of "a genuine risk of bankruptcy." Both times, the company came back structurally stronger.
Indian appetite for US equities runs ahead of the SpaceX news cycle. LRS remittances crossed $1.5 billion in FY24, up 20% year-on-year. SpaceX adds a specific gravitational pull to that trend.
Before the IPO lists, investors can access space economy exposure through the ERShares Private-Public Crossover ETF (XOVR), the Procure Space ETF, and ARK Space Exploration.
Platforms like Appreciate enable access to both the space economy ETFs available today and direct SpaceX participation post-listing, within the LRS framework. The Aramco lesson is to separate the excitement of the listing from the discipline of the entry.
Q) We don't have much representation in India, especially around space travel. This could turn out to be one of the ways to participate and diversify a portfolio. What are your views?
A) India has no pure-play listed space company. HAL is primarily a defence aerospace company. BEL is a defence electronics company. Paras Defence and Space Technologies, the closest to a pure play, carries a market cap of roughly ₹6,000 crore as of May 2026.
Rocket Lab, which operates launch vehicles at a fraction of SpaceX's scale, is valued at approximately $75 billion (roughly ₹6.4 lakh crore). SpaceX at $1.75 trillion dwarfs India's entire listed defence and aerospace sector.
The gap is structural, not temporary. Skyroot Aerospace became India's first space-tech unicorn in May 2026 at $1.1 billion. Pixxel won a ₹1,200 crore earth-observation contract from IN-SPACe. Neither is listed.
The Antariksh Venture Capital Fund first-closed at ₹1,005 crore in November 2025, India's largest spacetech-focused fund, to back the next generation of startups. The investable layer is coming. It is not here yet.
For diversification today, the path is practical. Three ETFs provide entry points before the listing. The ERShares Private-Public Crossover ETF (XOVR) carries roughly 23% direct SpaceX exposure via a Special Purpose Vehicle structure.
The Procure Space ETF, which returned 66% in 2025, holds satellite communications, launch infrastructure, and space services companies that benefit from the SpaceX ecosystem. ARK Space Exploration covers the same category with a broader innovation lens.
Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile, and Planet Labs are also accessible via LRS through platforms like Appreciate. Post-listing, SpaceX itself becomes available for secondary purchase.
SpaceX compresses three distinct investment theses into one listing: a high-growth telecom with 63% EBITDA margins, an AI compute infrastructure play already earning $1.25 billion a month from a single customer, and a defence infrastructure business with over $22 billion in cumulative federal contracts.
For an Indian portfolio with zero orbital-economy exposure, this addresses a sector gap that domestic exchanges cannot fill.
Q) For first-time global investors in India, what are the key factors to consider before investing in high-profile US IPOs like SpaceX?
A) The Indian IPO playbook is well understood. Apply via Application Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA) at the offer price, receive an allotment through the retail lottery, and sell on listing day for the pop.
In 2025, 65% of Indian mainboard IPOs listed at a gain. That model does not transfer to US IPOs for Indian investors.
There is no ASBA equivalent in the US. There is no retail lottery. Robinhood and Schwab do not accept Indian-resident account holders. Fidelity requires $100,000 to $500,000 in assets for IPO eligibility.
SpaceX has reserved 30% of its IPO for retail investors, but that allocation flows through US-domiciled brokers to US-resident customers.
Indian investors enter post-listing, after price discovery has happened and the institutional pop, if there is one, has already moved the price. In 2025, Figma's 250% listing-day surge had largely reversed within months. The pop is not the return.
Tax compounds the structural difference. For an Indian resident holding US-listed equities, gains realised within 24 months are taxed at the investor's income-tax slab rate, up to 35–43% for higher-income brackets.
Hold for 24 months or more, and long-term capital gains tax applies at 12.5% flat, with no indexation benefit. The ₹1.25 lakh annual LTCG exemption available on domestic listed equities does not apply to foreign equity gains.
A 30% gain sold in six months costs nearly three times as much in tax as the same gain held for two years.
Three factors matter for first-time investors. Space economy ETFs offer the lowest-friction entry today at market price, with no allocation risk and no listing-day guesswork. Secondary market entry after post-IPO volatility settles is structurally better than chasing day one.
The 24-month LTCG threshold is the correct investment horizon for a position of this nature. Build it, hold it, and let 12.5% LTCG work for you rather than slab rate work against you.
