This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 8:23 a.m. on Apr. 30, 2026.
"If I had to pick the deal I regret most right now, it would be missing SpaceX eight years ago."
As U.S. space company SpaceX has begun procedures to list on the Nasdaq market, the investment banking (IB) industry is belatedly talking about how corporations in Korea also had multiple chances to invest. If they had decided to invest then, they could have bought at one-tenth of the price currently being discussed, but officials at the time are said to have walked away because the market capitalization seemed too large and the goal of "conquering Mars" looked too far-fetched.
According to IB industry officials on the 30th, SpaceX's investment memorandum (IM) first circulated in Korea in 2018. There were opportunities after that as well, but SpaceX's nose got higher and higher, so the last time anyone(?) could really get access was around 2018.
According to the industry, in 2018 a new asset management firm founded by a collateral relative of the Hyundai family sought to raise funds to acquire less than 0.1% in SpaceX's secondary equity. The target size was a total of 15 billion won, and SpaceX's valuation at the time was said to be about 23 trillion won ($20 billion). That was one-hundredth of the 2,200 trillion won listing valuation now being discussed for SpaceX.
The firm is said to have made the rounds of major domestic financial institutions at the time. In particular, it touted as advantages the founder's Hyundai family collateral background and the fact that the 15 billion won raise was not large. Moreover, SpaceX was also a technology company led by Elon Musk, who drew attention through Tesla.
Domestic financial institutions, however, shunned a SpaceX investment. Major domestic pension funds and mutual aid associations, as well as securities firms and capital companies, all declined to commit to the Hyundai family collateral relative's fund to acquire SpaceX secondary shares. Around the same time, domestic financial institutions focused more on content companies such as Big Hit (now HYBE) and Bluehole (now Krafton).
The two main reasons for the SpaceX snub were that it was "too expensive and unrealistic." First, it was hard for Korean financial institutions to commit to an unlisted company that was not turning a profit yet was raising around $500 million (about 550 billion won) with each new funding round. And a valuation of 23 trillion won made it impossible to apply multiples at all.
On top of that, the assessment of "lack of realism" proved decisive. The IM drafted at the time contained SpaceX's Mars vision of "conquering Mars" and "becoming multiplanetary." Domestic commitment officers were said to have been appalled. One official who reviewed the IM back then recalled, "It made me think there really are a lot of strange people in this world."
Major global institutions moved in the opposite direction at the same time. Canada's Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) is representative. It built a separate growth capital "Teachers' Innovation Platform" (TIP) that invests in corporations disrupting existing industries with technology and creating new opportunities, and chose SpaceX as its first investment.
OTPP made clear that its investment decision was based on SpaceX not being an unproven, fledgling startup. It noted that since being founded by Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX had recorded more than 75 successful launches and was the first company to successfully reuse an orbital-class rocket. The assessment differed from Korea's.
In Korea, Mirae Asset Group is the name that gained prominence for investing in SpaceX. Four years after domestic financial institutions shunned the commitment, it began its first investment in 2022 and deployed funds a total of three times through 2023. Mirae Asset Capital formed the fund, and Mirae Asset Securities participated as a major limited partner (LP).
Mirae Asset Group's bet on SpaceX is considered a success. That's because SpaceX is slated to go public this year. A post-listing valuation of 2,200 trillion won is being discussed. Considering that SpaceX's valuation was 160 trillion won when Mirae Asset Group first invested, a return of at least 10 times is expected.
An IB industry official said, "Had domestic financial institutions put money into the 2018 fund to acquire SpaceX secondary shares, they could have achieved returns of more than 100 times, surpassing Mirae Asset Group," while adding, "It was possible only because Chairman Park Hyeon-joo, the founder with strong ownership, was at the helm."
Korea Investment Holdings also barely joined recently. Korea Investment Partners, a VC, purchased secondary shares held by SpaceX employees and others last year for about $10 million (about 14.3 billion won). The valuation at the time of purchase was about 580 trillion won ($400 billion). Although it had risen 25-fold from 2018, Korea Investment Partners placed the bet.
Given this situation, some are calling for a separate investment track like OTPP's TIP. Even if opportunities arise to invest or commit to unlisted innovative asset such as the 2018 SpaceX secondary transaction, the structure means major domestic institutions have no choice but to repeat the past snub.
The government has fully activated the Public Growth Fund, which will inject 150 trillion won over the next five years. With a structure of 15 trillion for direct investment, 35 trillion for indirect investment, 50 trillion for infrastructure financing, and 50 trillion in ultra-low-interest loans, the 10 key advanced strategic industries—AI, semiconductors, biotech, secondary batteries, and robots among them—are the core investment targets, but the focus is on domestic-only, not overseas, investments.
An official in charge of commitments at a domestic financial institution said, "There is no guarantee that the flow we missed once with SpaceX will not be repeated with the next Musk-level asset," adding, "Especially as the global concentration of assets is accelerating, this is the time to start discussing the launch of a global innovation investment track like TIP."