Starlink IPO: Will Starlink Stock Begin Trading Next Year?

Explore opportunities to invest before the Starlink IPO or spinoff from SpaceX. Linqto removes barriers to private markets and gives you access to invest in pre-IPO companies.

Starlink stock via SpaceX was recently available on the platform. Shares go fast when they become available. Sign up for an account and be prepared for the next share lot. 

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Notable Starlink News

10/17/2024: Satellites make SpaceX valuable
09/26/2024: Starlink hits 4 million subscribers
09/17/2024: Starlink has 2,500 airplanes under contract after United deal
05/09/2024: Starlink projects $6.6 billion annual revenue
Older news…

About Starlink

Starlink is a business subsidiary of the private company SpaceX. SpaceX is building a low earth orbit satellite constellation that provides internet access to the world, especially rural areas. 

The web of satellites known as Starlink will connect to ground receivers, providing internet at competitive prices, especially to underserved global communities. Internet speeds are expected to be 50Mbs to 150Mbs. 

Customers will include governments, airlines, cruise ships, and direct consumers. As of late 2024, nearly 6,000 satellites have been launched into orbit, and Starlink has 4 million subscribers. 

The satellites ride the Falcon 9 rocket for insertion into orbit.

Twelve thousand satellites are expected to orbit Earth during the first phase, potentially increasing that number to 42,000.

Elon Musk estimates the Starlink business could generate $30 billion by 2025. 

A SpaceX IPO does not appear to be a likelihood in the next three to five years. But a Starlink IPO spinoff could be more likely. 

Ownership

Starlink is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SpaceX. Therefore, SpaceX shareholders own Starlink. 

In the event of a Starlink spinoff, current SpaceX owners would receive shares of a separate Starlink and a pool of shares would likely be sold to the public to raise funds.

Prominent SpaceX venture capital investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Fidelity, GV, Rothenberg Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Gigafund, and Andreessen Horowitz.

Valuation

The Starlink valuation could be as high as $100 billion or more. The SpaceX valuation is estimated at around $220 billion as of October 2024.

Starlink is one of SpaceX’s primary revenue drivers. Several analysts have estimated that Starlink’s valuation is about half that of SpaceX.

IPO Potential

The Starlink IPO is unknown. Musk has said the company will IPO after becoming cash flow net positive. That happened in October 2023, according to a post by Musk. 

It could be the biggest IPO in several years, which has led to lots of speculation.

Bloomberg reported on November 15th, 2023, that Starlink was considering a Starlink spinoff in late 2024.

SpaceX has been moving the satellite unit’s assets to a wholly owned subsidiary that would ultimately be spun off in the IPO

Musk responded to the report that it was “false”. 

In an interview on TikTok, renowned private investor Chamath Palihapitiya predicted 2023 would be the year Elon Musk spins Starlink out of SpaceX. 

He thought Starlink’s valuation would be half that of SpaceX, near $75 billion. Didn’t happen. 

SpaceX Investor Ron Baron told CNBC he expects the Starlink IPO in 2027. 

In June 2022, CNBC reported that CEO Elon Musk told employees at an all-hands meeting that the Starlink IPO wouldn’t arrive until 2025 or later.

I’m not sure exactly when that [IPO] is, but maybe it will be like — I don’t know, just guessing — three or four years from now. — Elon Musk (06/02/2022)

Musk reiterated that it makes sense for SpaceX to spin off Starlink, but not until it’s in a “smooth sailing situation” with “good predictability”.

As reported by Bloomberg in February 2020, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said:

Right now, we are a private company, but Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public. That particular piece is an element of the business that we are likely to spin out and go public.

In September 2020, Musk confirmed this likelihood on Twitter and indicated that retail investors might be able to participate:

We will probably IPO Starlink, but only several years in the future when revenue growth is smooth & predictable. Public market does *not* like erratic cash flow haha. I’m a huge fan of small retail investors. Will make sure they get top priority. You can hold me to it.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 28th, 2020

Considering Elon’s urgency to reach Mars to make humans a multi-planet species, this author wouldn’t be surprised to see a Starlink IPO shortly after the business is stable.

A Starlink IPO may also become more likely when the broader IPO marketplace heats up again, a la 2021. 

For the Starlink IPO to favor “small retail investors,” they’d either need to make it a direct listing or offer shares to customers or other affiliates via a directed share program (usually not disclosed until the SEC S-1 filing is public). 

Why Would Starlink Stock Spinoff from SpaceX?

Elon Musk has wild ambitions.

He owns Neuralink, which aims to merge artificial intelligence and the human brain. 

He created a construction tunneling startup called The Boring Company to take transportation underground.

But perhaps his most aspiring goal of all is to colonize Mars. To do so, he needs lots more money than he already has. 

SpaceX serves as both a lower-cost launch service for governments and private companies and a platform for Elon to design rockets for Mars. The company profits from launch services, but it will need much more money to colonize Mars. 

As a private company, internal management and the Board of Directors determine what to do with earnings. But if SpaceX became a publicly-traded company, it would have to answer to shareowners.

Though a SpaceX IPO would surely raise billions, its goal to colonize Mars would unlikely appeal to investors because it would be a cash drain. Investors want to receive profits through dividends or capital appreciation. 

Going to Mars will not be a business venture, at least not at first. It’s a humanitarian mission to hedge against Earth’s inevitable demise. 

Elon Musk needs a cash cow to fund his vision. Enter Starlink.

Starlink has the potential to generate billions of dollars of revenue. Once the network of satellites is in place, revenues should outpace maintenance costs, generating significant profits. 

So why not keep Starlink with SpaceX?

Spinning Starlink off to the public markets would provide a capital-raising vehicle for Starlink to invest in growth. As we’ve seen with Tesla, when the stock surges, the company can issue additional shares to raise extra capital. 

Not only could it raise significant money in a Starlink IPO, but SpaceX would also likely retain a large ownership percentage of the new company in a tailored share class. As Starlink stock rises, SpaceX has an asset that grows in value, allowing it to sell shares or receive preferred payments. 

If Starlink can generate $30 billion in revenue as another Elon Musk company, fanboys, and investors would salivate to own it, driving up the stock price. Musk could sell additional shares to raise funds like he did with Tesla. 

How to Buy Starlink Stock

You cannot buy SpaceX stock or Starlink stock in the public markets today — SpaceX is a private company, and Starlink is a business run by SpaceX.

But with SpaceX having a $200 billion valuation, shares have become more available to individual investors via pre-IPO marketplaces and indirect investments. 

Here are some strategies to acquire shares or indirect Starlink investment exposure

1. Acquire Shares on Pre-IPO Investing Platforms 

Multiple pre-IPO marketplaces have offered SpaceX stock in the past or are currently offering shares. If you can acquire shares of SpaceX, you’ll own a piece of Starlink.

Since SpaceX is now worth more than $200 billion in the private marketplace, employees and shareholders may look to sell shares before the IPO. However, SpaceX has offered internal tender offers to bring liquidity to employees. 

Accredited investors can invest directly in pre-IPO companies via pre-IPO investing platforms like Linqto and Hiive.  

There are also opportunities to invest in pre-IPO companies via venture capital funds.

2. Buy the ARK Venture Fund

The ARK Venture Fund is a venture capital fund that has invested in SpaceX. The fund is available to all U.S.-based investors 18+. The minimum to invest is $500. 

Investors need to open an account with SoFi Invest and buy the fund in the alternatives section of the dashboard. 

The ARK Venture Fund is far and away the easiest way to gain investment exposure to SpaceX and Starlink stock.

A similar fund is the Fundrise Innovation Fund, where investors can own pre-IPO startups like Databricks, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Canva. 

The minimum to invest is $10. However, SpaceX stock is not available in the Fundrise fund at this time.

Please note: This is a testimonial in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links on AccessIPOs.com. All opinions are my own.

3. Own Tesla Stock

Long-time Tesla stock owners may have early access to the Starlink IPO spinoff from SpaceX. 

On June 24th, 2021, Musk tweeted the following in response to a question on Twitter:

At least a few years before Starlink revenue is reasonably predictable. Going public sooner than that would be very painful. Will do my best to give long-term Tesla shareholders preference.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 24, 2021

Though certainly not guaranteed, Musk seems open to potentially offering Starlink IPO shares to Tesla shareholders. 

4. Buy Alphabet Stock

You can also own a tiny sliver of SpaceX and Starlink by owning Alphabet (GOOGL) shares, Google’s parent company.

Along with Fidelity (private), Google announced a $1 billion investment in SpaceX in January 2016. The investment amounted to 10% ownership of the company ($10 billion valuation) at the time.

SpaceX has endured several additional venture rounds since then, raising the value of Alphabet. 

Owning Alphabet is an indirect way to own SpaceX and Starlink. Indirect investing in pre-IPO startups via public companies is an easy and low-risk way to gain investment exposure, but returns are limited. 

In the event of a Starlink spinoff, Alphabet would presumably retain some ownership of Starlink.

5. Become a Customer

Now that Starlink is selling internet access to the public, customers may have an inside track on becoming shareowners.

Signing up for the service will get you on their customer list, at a minimum. You’ll become familiar with the service and decide if the product is worth investment consideration.

As we’ve seen with previous IPOs such as GoPro, LendingClub, and Uber, early customers and affiliates sometimes receive access to IPO shares through a direct share program. 

Direct share programs are usually kept secret until the company releases the S-1 Filing to the public. They enable the company to offer preferred IPO share access, generally to affiliates and family members. 

For Uber, drivers who logged a certain number of miles received shares. For LendingClub, it was their note investors. For GoPro, anyone on their email list could apply to acquire shares. 

We have no idea at this stage if this would be in the cards for a Starlink IPO. But if there is a viable preferential treatment for “small retail investors,” early customers would seem to make the most sense because you can’t offer IPO shares to everyone. 

6. Participate in the Starlink IPO 

The big question is whether Starlink will IPO or just get spun off from SpaceX. An IPO would mean they could raise funds, whereas a spinoff would just separate the two companies.

In the earlier tweet embedded above from September 2020, Musk claims the following:

I’m a huge fan of small retail investors. Will make sure they get top priority. You can hold me to it.

IPO access has become more attainable to retail investors in the past few years. Many high-profile IPOs have offered shares to retail investors through participating brokers.  

The following online brokers give customers free access to IPOs, even with low account balances:

• TradeStation 
• Robinhood 

See our complete list of IPO-friendly brokers here. 

TradeStation has a longer track record of accessing more than 400 IPOs and secondary offerings via its partnership with Click Markets (ClickIPO).

But Robinhood has the advantage of Silicon Valley networks and a history of getting allocations for high-profile IPOs.

Musk is well-connected enough to choose whatever broker or brokers he wants to allocate shares. 

Now that Musk has declared his commitment to long-term Tesla shareholders and his preference to prioritize “small retail investors”, either platform could land an exclusive deal. 

Access to specific high-demand IPOs may be limited by which brokerage accounts you have and what broker gets exclusive access. 

Investors will need to act fast, as the window to invest will be tight. 

7. Invest After the IPO

Your best chance to own Starlink stock is to wait for the IPO and buy the stock through a no-fee online brokerage account afterward. 

High-profile IPOs are challenging to receive an allocation. Most individual investors will not. 

But that could be helpful, because share prices often fall below the IPO after the initial euphoria and locking periods wear off. Patient investors can find opportunities to invest in some of the fastest-growing companies if they are patient. 

After the IPO, investors also get more data to process and determine if an investment is appropriate. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Starlink publicly traded?

No. Starlink is a business unit of SpaceX. SpaceX is a private company. 

What is the Starlink stock price?

There is no Starlink stock price as it is still part of SpaceX. 

The SpaceX stock price traded at around $118 per share in October 2024. 

What is the Starlink stock symbol?

There is no Starlink ticker symbol yet because the company is private. If SpaceX decides to spin off Starlink, here are a few potential Starlink ticker symbols. 

• STAR
• SLNK
• LNK

Starlink News Archive

04/10/2024: Undisclosed Starlink Costs Undercut Profitability Claims
12/12/2023: FCC issues final denial of $885M Starlink subsidy
11/15/2023: SpaceX Weighs Spinning Off Starlink Via IPO as Soon as 2024
11/11/2023: Starlink’s rapid growth and influence
11/10/2023: SpaceX Investor Expects SpaceX’s Starlink to go public around 2027
11/06/2023: SpaceX Eyes $15 Billion in 2024 Sales on Starlink Strength
11/02/2023: Musk Tweets Starlink “achieved breakeven cash flow”
01/07/2023: Chamath Palihapitiya Predicts Starlink Spins Off SpaceX in 2023
01/05/2023: How Musk’s satellites have saved Ukraine and changed warfare
01/02/2023: SpaceX raising $750 million at a $137 billion valuation
12/12/2022: SpaceX Tender Offer Is Said to Value Company at $140 Billion
12/01/2022: FCC authorizes SpaceX to begin deploying up to 7,500 Starlink satellites
11/16/2022: SpaceX mulling secondary share sale at $150 billion valuation
10/18/2022: Analyst predicts SpaceX could spin off Starlink by 2025
09/01/2022: Royal Caribbean to offer Starlink internet on all its ships
08/25/2022: SpaceX and T-Mobile team up to use Starlink satellites
08/15/2022: SpaceX gets $1.9 million contract for services in Europe and Africa
08/05/2022: SpaceX raises another $250 million in equity
06/07/2022: Musk says an IPO of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet business is still 3 or 4 years away
05/25/2022: SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet surpasses 400,000 subscribers globally
05/22/2022: SpaceX looks to raise $1.7 billion, boosting its valuation to $127 billion
04/25/2022: Starlink to provide Wi-Fi on Hawaiian Airlines flights as a free service for passengers
03/21/2022: Does Musk Want to Merge Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company?
03/21/2022: Starlink sees the in-flight internet market as ripe for an overhaul
02/26/2022: Ukraine Official Asks Elon Musk for Starlink Stations Amid Russian Invasion
02/02/2022: SpaceX rolls outs ‘premium’ Starlink satellite internet tier at $500/month
12/15/2021: Elon Musk: ‘I’ll be surprised if we’re not landing on Mars within five years’
12/07/2021: The Economist: Satellite constellations are alarming astronomers
10/08/2021: SpaceX hits $100 billion valuation after secondary share sale
10/07/2021: US Nationwide Starlink Rollout Is Coming This Month
09/08/2021: Who is Starlink really for?
08/24/2021: Elon Musk says SpaceX has shipped 100,000 Starlink terminals
08/09/2021: SpaceX is buying satellite data startup Swarm
08/03/2021: SpaceX says Starlink has about 90,000 users as the internet service gains subs
06/24/2021: Elon Musk says Starlink will go public when its cash flow is more predictable
05/04/2021: Over 500,000 orders for Starlink satellite internet service received to date
04/06/2021: SpaceX does not plan to add ‘tiered pricing’ for Starlink satellite internet service
03/02/2021: SpaceX is building a factory in Austin TX for Starlink satellite internet equipment
02/22/2021: Musk says SpaceX ‘will double’ Starlink satellite internet speeds later this year
02/17/2021: SpaceX Funding Round at $74 Billion Valuation Was Led by Sequoia
02/16/2021: Elon Musk’s SpaceX raised $850 million, jumping valuation to about $74 billion
02/08/2021: SpaceX opens up Starlink internet preorders around the world
02/04/2021: SpaceX says its Starlink satellite internet service now has over 10,000 users
01/11/2021: Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellite service has been approved in the UK
12/24/2020: Elon Musk said that combining SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and Boring under a megacorporation called ‘X’ would be a ‘good idea’
12/14/2020: SpaceX in Talks for New Funds and $92 Billion Valuation: Report
12/07/2020: SpaceX’s Starlink wins nearly $900 million in FCC subsidies to bring internet to rural areas
11/02/2020: SpaceX’s Starlink internet public beta is giving some users blistering download speeds
10/27/2020: SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service is priced at $99 per month
10/27/2020: Dozens of families in rural Texas will get SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet for free
10/22/2020: Morgan Stanley expects SpaceX will be a $100 billion company 
02/06/2020: There could be a new Elon Musk stock for investors to bet on: SpaceX’s Starlink

Conclusion

Starlink is one of a handful of space economy IPOs that may happen in the next five years. Others include Axiom Space, Sierra Space, and Relativity Space. 

It won’t be easy for ordinary investors to acquire pre-IPO shares of SpaceX stock or Starlink stock. If you’re determined, follow the pre-IPO marketplaces and pay attention to any offerings.

You are required to be an accredited investor to invest directly. Otherwise, you’ll need to invest through a venture capital fund or wait for the IPO date to buy shares. 

But that’s not necessarily a reason to be disappointed. Google’s shares rose 18% on the day of its IPO. Many people probably sold that day. Had they held for the next decade, their holdings would have been up 1,000%.

When the Starlink IPO is near, please perform due diligence on the SEC S-1 filing, and don’t buy Starlink stock with money you can’t afford to lose.

Read more: Space Startups Ready to Launch

Disclosures: The author is long TSLA, HOOD, the Fundrise Innovation Fund, and the ARK Venture Fund. This web page contains affiliate links from our partners. If a reader opens an account or buys a service from a link in this article, we may be compensated at no additional cost to the reader. Opening an account with a broker that provides access to IPOs does not guarantee the customer allocations of specific IPOs.