The disclosed holdings of managers in OWL’s Small-Cap group performed the best in May. The majority of our OWL Groups had positive performance in the past month except for China, REITs, Energy and Cyclicals, and Brazil.
As a reminder, the table below is based on our “OWL Groups” – curated lists of over 500 managers frequently found in leading allocators’ portfolios. These lists are categorized by geography, sector, and style, enabling our users to easily monitor groups of managers and their underlying disclosed holdings. All returns shown are estimates based on publicly disclosed holdings. In Friday’s newsletter, users also received a list of the 20 best and worst performing managers in May.
SpaceX
With SpaceX preparing for its IPO this Friday, many managers and allocators are set to receive massive windfalls. With OWL’s new private holdings data, users can see details on the managers that invested in SpaceX including when, how much, and who else participated in each round.
After founding SpaceX in 2002, Musk largely self-financed the company for the first six years using over $100 million of his earnings from the sale of PayPal. Despite three blown-up rockets and Musk’s aversion to outside capital from his PayPal ouster, SpaceX first raised outside capital when Founders Fund invested $20 million in 2008.
We dug through OWL’s data - including regulatory filings, press reports, and company announcements - to highlight some of the managers and allocators who appear to have benefitted from their SpaceX investments. There are rumblings of other very large exposures – for now, the list below is based on anything disclosed publicly:
The Managers
Founders Fund – first institutional backer of SpaceX, invested $20 million in 2008, participated in at least three other rounds according to OWL data. The Information reports that Founders Fund could profit as much as $60 billion from its position.
Craft Ventures – first invested $15 million in 2009 around a valuation of $550 million, participated in at least two other rounds.
DFJ Growth – first invested $30 million in 2009 around a valuation of $550 million, has invested a total of $800 million according to Morningstar.
Valor Equity Partners – first invested in $50 million as co-lead in 2010, participated in at least two other rounds. Valor founder Antonio Gracias holds a roughly 7% stake in SpaceX through his ownership of Valor funds, which translates to a position worth over $120 billion at a valuation of $1.77 trillion.
137 Ventures – first invested in $50 million 2010 round at a valuation of $1 billion.
Gigafund – first invested in 2019 round at roughly $30 billion valuation, participated in at least one other round.
Atreides – reported to have first invested in 2019 at roughly $30 billion valuation, stake valued at $2.5 billion as of April.
Darsana – reported to have first invested in 2019 at roughly $30 billion valuation and reportedly participated in several subsequent rounds.
D1 Capital – first invested in 2021 round at a valuation of roughly $74 billion.
Sequoia – first invested in $850 million 2019, participated in at least one other round according to OWL data. Sequoia has invested a total of $1.2 billion, a position worth roughly $12 billion when the company sat at a valuation of around $800 billion, according to partner Shaun Maguire.
a16z – gained exposure through its 2024 investment in xAI, participated in at least one other round.
Lightspeed Venture Partners – gained exposure through its 2024 investment in xAI, participated in at least one other round.
The Allocators
Washington University – reportedly invested $50 million around 2016, now comprises more than 10% of the endowment.
Kaiser Permanente – OWL data shows a $225 million commitment to Valor M33 SpaceX in 2021, a position worth $404 million as of 12/31/24 and over $2.4 billion today (assuming a $1.77 trillion valuation, SpaceX’s targeted IPO value).
Duke University – Disclosed LP in multiple Founders Fund vehicles during the timeframe that the manager was actively investing in SpaceX.
Lili’uokalani Trust – Disclosed a commitment to Lembas II, a Founders Fund-managed vehicle internally denoted to be a SpaceX SPV, in 2023. Lembas II has grown in value from $777 million in 2023 to over $2.1 billion as of March, according to OWL data.
Allocators invested in at least one Valor fund with likely SpaceX exposure: California Teachers, NHL Retirement, NYC Fire, NYC Police, NYC Teachers.
Allocators invested in at least one DFJ vehicle with likely SpaceX exposure: LACERS, Mayo Clinic, Eversource Energy Services Company.
Allocators invested in D1 Capital with likely exposure to SpaceX: UTIMCO, Mass General Brigham, Johns Hopkins.
Allocators invested in Atreides with likely exposure to SpaceX: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Hurst Family Foundation, IAM National Pension Fund, The Anne Wojcicki Foundation.
University of Pennsylvania – Disclosed commitment to Darsana’s primary fund.
Other News & Events
About Old Well Labs
OWL is an intelligence platform built for allocators, by allocators. Leading endowments, foundations, and family offices use the system to find, monitor, and connect with thousands of fund managers globally. OWL's analytics engine has collected over one billion data points from 65 countries. We make it easy for allocators to find and track information about the managers they care about – not just positions but also performance analytics, people data, business information, and details about the manager investments of other allocators.
Disclaimers
Returns represent the return on invested capital of publicly disclosed long positions, as calculated by OWL. Actual returns may vary based on a number of factors, including (but not limited to) undisclosed positions, short exposure, non-equity holdings, cash holdings, and lagged disclosure of positions.
This newsletter and the material on the Old Well Labs platform are for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, manager, or strategy. Certain investment managers, funds, or limited partners (“LPs”) referenced herein may be current or prospective clients of Old Well Labs, and Old Well Labs may have business relationships with such parties. Accordingly, references to any manager, fund, or LP should not be construed as an endorsement, recommendation, or solicitation. Old Well Labs shall not be liable for any investment gain or loss that may occur from the use of this material. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form or used in any publication without express written permission from Old Well Labs.