Can everyday investors put their money to work in SpaceX stock? For the company's roughly 20-year history, the answer has been "sort of."
SpaceX has an estimated valuation of more than $200 billion but isn't a publicly traded company and has no immediate plans to go public. However, it has an active internal trading program that allows employees and existing investors to buy and sell shares, and some secondary websites occasionally allow accredited investors to buy and sell shares of SpaceX stock.
There are some venture capital funds that are available to the public that own some shares of SpaceX in their portfolios. But unless you're a high-profile venture investor, it has been difficult to buy shares of SpaceX whenever you want. That could be about to change.
SoFi is making SpaceX more accessible
SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) announced that it's partnering with alternative investment-fund platform Templum to bring several new investment options to its brokerage customers. If you aren't familiar, SoFi offers an app-based investment platform that allows clients to buy and sell stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, and more.
SoFi already provides access to several alternative investment funds and is adding three private market funds for its members as part of its Templum partnership:
Cosmos Fund
Pomona Investment Fund
StepStone Private Markets Fund
While all three could be worth exploring, the first one on the list, the Cosmos Fund, is particularly interesting. The Cosmos Fund exists to hold only one investment -- SpaceX stock.
Can you invest in SpaceX through the Cosmos Fund?
There are some caveats. For one thing, the Cosmos Fund is only available to SoFi members who are accredited investors, at least initially. There are several ways to qualify as an accredited investor, but for individuals, it typically means you either have at least $1 million in investable assets or an annual income of $200,000 or more (or $300,000 jointly with a spouse).
In addition, there's a minimum investment size of $25,000. So it isn't exactly open to all investors. But it does make SpaceX more readily accessible than it has been in the past.
The offering period for the Cosmos Fund will run from Dec 4 through Dec 19 (the other two funds don't have a set offering period).
We also don't know what fees are involved with investing in SpaceX through the Cosmos Fund. But according to SoFi, "Templum charges a purchase fee of up to 6% for SPVs [special purpose vehicles] and up to 3.5% for funds."
You can't directly view the offerings through SoFi's website. Rather, members are directed to set up a profile on Templum and must verify their accreditation status (including uploading photo ID) before the fund details can be viewed.
If you aren't an accredited investor, it's worth noting that SoFi also offers access to the Ark Venture Fund (NASDAQMUTFUND: ARKVX), which has 12.4% of its assets invested in SpaceX and also holds shares of popular private companies such as OpenAI and Epic Games. This fund is open to all SoFi brokerage clients, but it isn't a pure play on SpaceX.
Whether the Cosmos Fund or the Ark Venture Fund are smart ways for you to get exposure to SpaceX is a different question. But the bottom line is, SoFi is now giving investors two ways to gain exposure to the innovative space company.
* The content presented above, whether from a third party or not, is considered as general advice only. This article should not be construed as containing investment advice, investment recommendations, an offer of or solicitation for any transactions in financial instruments.
