As seen from Canaveral National Seashore, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink satellites launches from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on October 6, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This is the 13th batch of satellites placed into orbit by SpaceX as part of a constellation designed to provide broadband internet service around the globe. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
The investment firms of billionaires including ex-eBay President Jeff Skoll and AutoZone’s Pitt Hyde are set to reap rewards from SpaceX’s IPO this Friday.
However, while SpaceX’s profile eclipses that of nearly every other private space company, family office investors told CNBC that they see other opportunities in the sector even for companies without Elon Musk’s name attached. Moreover, they said they view space-related startups as opportunities to invest in infrastructure and defense rather than flashy bets on space exploration.
Gary Lauder, a cosmetics heir turned venture capitalist, has invested in SpaceX through a special purpose vehicle and two venture funds. He told CNBC he was attracted to the strength of its Starlink satellite technology, not the prospect of space tourism.
Much of Lauder’s early investing was in telecommunications, and he took a seminar in satellite communications in the early ’90s.
“I never dreamed of being an astronaut,” he said. “It’s just an important mode of communication.”
Jason Blanck, an investor who started his namesake family office in 2024, said he is interested in the picks and shovels of space, like mission-critical hardware and data networks.
“I think the public markets are focused heavily on debating rocket launch cadences, costs around flight development, but from my perspective and where I sit, managing permanent family capital, the real narrative has actually quite evolved,” he said.
Robin Lauber’s Infinitas Capital invested in SpaceX in early 2025 through a secondary offering. He cited Musk’s track record and the success of Starlink as reasons to put money in. Lauber also noted the valuation was “reasonable” compared with the more than $1.75 trillion expected now.
He told CNBC that Infinitas would have sold some shares before the initial public offering had it found a willing buyer at the right discounted valuation. Lauber is open to selling locked-up shares at a discount to recover the initial cost of investment and seeing how the other shares fare.
Looking forward, Lauber is weighing more investments in European space companies such as Isar Aerospace, a German launch service provider. He is also considering participating in a new fund by Alpine Space Ventures, which counts a SpaceX alum as a founding partner.
“European sovereignty is a huge topic everywhere,” he said.
Investing in space-related firms was unpopular not so long ago, according to Jon Kutler of Admiralty Partners. He spent 10 years in the U.S. Navy before becoming an investment banker specializing in aerospace and defense in the early 1980s. He left Wasserstein Perella & Co. in 1992 to start his own investment firm in order to focus more on the sector to the chagrin of his then-boss, Bruce Wasserstein.
“”He told me I was an idiot because the Cold War was over and there was going to be no more spending in the defense industry,” Kutler said. “People had extrapolated that to be the end of the defense industry, but if you look over the history of mankind, we’re just not a very peaceful species. To me, it seemed ludicrous to declare an end to defense spending, and I was willing to bet against that with my own capital and my own time.”
Kutler sold that investment firm in 2002 to focus on his family office, Admiralty Partners. His investments include Firefly Aerospace, a rocket maker with clients including Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Space Force.
Investing in aerospace firms pioneering new technologies requires patience, Kutler said. This is where family offices have an edge on traditional private equity firms since they aren’t under pressure to realize returns on a fixed timeline.
While the prospect of traveling to Mars is exciting, space exploration companies face a harder path to financial success because federal government spending is less consistent, he said.
“Defense spending is going to be a recurring theme, It will have ups and downs based upon administration priorities, but there’s always going to be an end market there,” he said.
Kutler said the enthusiasm around the SpaceX IPO belies considerable risks to investing in aerospace, such as swings in federal spending. He added that he is concerned federal cuts to research funding will endanger the pipeline of future startups.
“There is a temptation because of what’s going on right now to think that commercial space companies are the answer to everything,” Kutler said. “Perhaps over time the commercial industry may able to do it cheaper, but if you amortize everything out, it takes a long time for that to happen, and these early investments by the government were key to making these things happen.”
