MarketsARK Invest has purchased more than $500 million in SpaceX shares on the day of the company's historic IPO.
Funding for these acquisitions likely came from divesting other holdings, according to data. ARK is also recognized as a prominent supporter of bitcoin, projecting a million-dollar valuation by 2030.
By Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Sheldon RebackUpdated Jun 15, 2026, 8:13 a.m. Published Jun 15, 2026, 7:52 a.m. 2 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on
Cathie Wood's ARK Invest acquired $500 million in SpaceX stock. (CoinDesk archives)Details of the investment reveal that ARK Invest secured approximately 3.3 million shares of SpaceX, valued at over $500 million during the company's record-breaking IPO.
- ARK Invest established a position of nearly 3.3 million SpaceX shares, valued at over $500 million, coinciding with the company's unprecedented IPO.
- Cathie Wood's firm divested more than $325 million across at least 13 companies in the days surrounding the IPO.
- ARK's strategy of reallocating risk capital from cryptocurrency investments to high-growth opportunities like SpaceX, alongside a projected base-case valuation of $2.5 trillion for the company by 2030, highlights a trend among institutional investors favoring AI and space IPOs over digital assets in the short term.
The shares, initially priced at $135, closed at $160.95, marking an increase of over 19.2% on the first trading day.
Prior to the IPO, ARK liquidated nearly $280 million in shares and sold approximately 948,000 shares from 13 companies, totaling at least $48 million on the IPO day, including stocks from Advanced Micro Devices, Roku, and Baidu, as per daily reports during this time.
The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) was the main contributor to this purchase, concluding the day with SpaceX shares comprising 3.28% of its portfolio.
The remarkable nearly 20% increase on the first day of this record IPO indicates that institutional investors are once again willing to take on high-beta innovation risks. While bitcoin remains the asset with the highest beta in this category, the current market trend is leaning towards a surge in AI and space IPOs, with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic also preparing to go public.
There is a limited amount of risk capital available, and the shift from even a bitcoin advocate like Wood towards these investments suggests that funds are likely to continue flowing out of the crypto market in the near future.
An ARK valuation model estimates a $2.5 trillion enterprise value for SpaceX by 2030, with an optimistic scenario reaching nearly $3.1 trillion, based on the company’s $350 billion private valuation as of 2024.
ARK also manages a spot bitcoin ETF, and Wood has been one of the most vocal institutional advocates for bitcoin, with long-term price projections reaching into seven figures.
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