SpaceX IPO News Sends Venture Capital Into a Frenzy

Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Aju IB See Recent Share Price Surge
KASA Fund of Funds Increases by 25 Times in Scale
"Rising Interest in SpaceX, Especially Its Connection to the Defense Industry"

As news broke that global aerospace giant SpaceX has begun the process of going public, the stock prices of domestic venture capital (VC) firms that have invested in SpaceX shares also surged. With the amount of capital allocated by the Fund of Funds increasing this year, VC interest in aerospace is expected to intensify.

Mirae Asset Venture Investment recently hit its highest closing price to date. On March 27, Mirae Asset Venture Investment closed at 32,550 won, up 15.22% from the previous trading day. The stock price jumped from 20,800 won (closing price) on March 24 to 27,000 won the following day, marking a 29.81% increase, and has since hovered around the 30,000-won range. Likewise, AJU IB Investment also recorded its highest closing price of 9,370 won on April 1. The stock price surged from 6,560 won on March 24 to 8,520 won just one day later on March 25, a 29.88% increase. The share price remains below the 10,000-won mark.

The commonality between these two listed VCs is that both have made direct or indirect equity investments in SpaceX. Previously, Mirae Asset Group invested a total of 278 million dollars (approximately 400 billion won) in SpaceX between 2022 and 2023, with funds from Mirae Asset Venture Investment involved in the deal. AJU IB Investment also invested in SpaceX through its U.S. subsidiary Solasta Ventures, though the exact investment amount has not been disclosed. According to foreign media and other sources on April 1 (local time), SpaceX reportedly submitted confidential documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week to prepare for an IPO.

The expectations for the aerospace sector sparked by SpaceX are reverberating throughout Korea’s venture investment industry. Recently, the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) announced plans to establish a Fund of Funds worth 200 billion won by September this year. The New Space Fund, which will support investments in space and related industries, aims to create a total fund of 200 billion won by matching 100 billion won contributed by KASA with additional funds from private and overseas investors. This represents a 25-fold increase from last year’s fund size of 8.1 billion won. The Korea Aerospace Administration will provide support across three segments: small (startups), medium and large (scaling up), and global. The call for the global segment, which aims to attract global VC investors, is scheduled to be announced in the second half of the year.

A representative from KASA said, "We expanded the scale of support to broadly accommodate diverse needs, including startups related to space, companies with ideas for fostering the future space industry, and existing startups seeking to scale up."

Venture investment by VCs in aerospace is also actively underway. According to The VC, a startup capital market database company, Intervest recently made a sole investment of 15 billion won in Telepix, a comprehensive space artificial intelligence (AI) solutions company. Telepix is planning to go public on KOSDAQ in the second half of this year. In December last year, robotic satellite startup Walker Lynx Space announced that it had completed a Series A round, raising 9 billion won.

An industry insider from the VC sector said, "Globally, aerospace is considered a promising industry, and with SpaceX at the forefront, aerospace is drawing increased attention as it becomes linked with the defense sector."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.