As SpaceX makes its stock market debut, attention is turning to the enormous gains awaiting its early investors. One venture investor in particular, who steadily accumulated shares back when the company was an unknown startup, is drawing notice. He is Justin Fishner-Wolfson, 44, who leads San Francisco-based venture capital firm 137 Ventures.
According to The New York Times on Friday, Wolfson has steadily bought SpaceX's privately held shares over the past 15 years. He purchased stock held by employees and others starting when SpaceX was valued at around $1 billion, and is said to have not sold a single SpaceX share since he first invested in 2011.
Given that SpaceX is valued at roughly $1.77 trillion (about 2,700 trillion won), the more than 1% stake held by 137 Ventures is worth approximately $20 billion (about 30 trillion won).
Wolfson's ties to SpaceX date back to 2008. At the time, he was a 26-year-old investor working at Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund. SpaceX was then touting reusable rockets and Mars exploration, but the industry dismissed the plans as closer to a dream than reality.
He watched SpaceX's third rocket launch test in person, but the rocket crashed and failed after about two minutes. Founders Fund nonetheless continued investing, and its $20 million (about 30 billion won) investment at the time is said to have since grown to a value of tens of billions of dollars.
Wolfson continued investing in SpaceX even after founding 137 Ventures. Reflecting on those years, Wolfson said, "Twenty years ago, no one could have predicted this outcome."
He, too, faced many moments where he stood at a crossroads over whether to halt his investment amid doubts and concerns. These included when SpaceX launched Starlink as a satellite internet service, and when Musk's private life or political moves made headlines and emerged as investment risks.
But Wolfson is said to have never disposed of a single SpaceX share. "Whoever Musk dates at any given point has little to do with SpaceX's business," he said.
On SpaceX's first day of trading Friday, the stock closed at $161.11 on the Nasdaq market, 19.3% above its offering price of $135. At one point during the session, it surged as much as 30.4% to reach $176.52.
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