Fortuna CEO: “SpaceX prospects wide open”
January 23, 2024
Justus Parmar, CEO of Fortuna Investments, and a close observer of the satellite industry, suggests that Elon Musk is only just getting started in terms of potential size and impact of SpaceX on satellite.
Parmar’s team are already investors in the space sector, and according to a Constellations conversation with Kratos Defence, he suggests that SpaceX will be conducting another round of financing “in the next handful of weeks” and said that it will result in a valuation of around $175 billion (€161bn) “give or take”.
“If you take a step back, this space company that was peripheral space company only a handful of years, it’s now the second most valuable private company in the entire planet. So to me, that’s extremely interesting, and it’s a huge development, not only for SpaceX and what they’ve been able to do and achieve, but the greater ecosystem as a whole in terms of what is potentially possible in the industry,” said Parmar.
He is also even-handed, saying that 2024 is going to be a “transformative” year for Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin rocket business.
Parmar told Constellations that in Fortuna’s view the prospects for SpaceX – and Bezos – are “untapped, virgin”.
“The companies like SpaceX are just starting to lay the groundwork, call it the infrastructure or the railroads for the train in a certain way. So, this is like the internet was in ’99 or 2000, so it’s wide open. We can sit here and conjure and cook up all sorts of things that what’s possible, but I think the reality is nobody truly understands the extent of what is possible,” stated Parmar.
“What we believe at Fortuna is, what we know is SpaceX has done a tremendous job, they’re ahead of the pack, they’re the leader. One day, I think they’re actually going to be the most valuable company in the world. As we mentioned, they’re the second most valuable private company. But as a matter of practice, we think it’s smart not to compete directly against Elon. We think it’s smart to fund companies that are ancillary,” added Palmar.
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