SpaceX is the biggest IPO in history, and GCC investors are right in the middle of it. Joining me in the studio is Mehdi Fichtali, Founder and CEO of FinaMaze — MENA's first AI-powered digital wealth manager — and a member of the MENA Fintech Association. Mehdi, welcome to Wall Street Mena.
Thank you very much for the invitation.
The SpaceX IPO has been one of the most talked-about market events of the year. What is actually driving all of this investor interest?
It's a very good question, and it's really a narrative versus fundamentals story. What's driving it comes down to a few things. First, scarcity by design — the float is only 5%, which is quite unusual for a mega IPO of this size. Second, 30% was reserved for retail, which is also quite high. So there's a dynamic that leverages Elon Musk's personal aura — it attracts people not just to his personality but to his vision and his track record as an entrepreneur. And somewhere deep in every one of these investors, there's that childhood dream of looking up at the sky and wanting to be there. For the first time, Elon Musk is giving retail investors the chance to participate in that dream. Those are the elements fuelling this trend.
Do you think the bubble has burst going into the second and third week of trading?
I wouldn't call it a bubble. It's quite typical for a mega IPO to see a strong initial pop followed by some pullback — technically, the early investors who got in first will look to capture that quick upside. There were also two external events that weighed on the stock. One was the Fed meeting, which came in more hawkish than expected, with strong job creation data leading the Fed to consider a potential rate hike by year end — not ideal timing for a high-valuation growth stock. The other was SpaceX announcing a $25 billion bond issuance, which was received as negative news by shareholders. So the stock came in at around $20-25, moved up to $220-225, and has since come back down to around $145-155. At those levels I'm not worried. But if it goes below $135, that would be a bearish signal.
Are investors paying for what SpaceX is today or for what it could be in the future?
Definitely the future. Total revenues for SpaceX are just under $20 billion, and the IPO valuation is roughly 100 times that figure. Nobody is investing in SpaceX for what it is today. They're buying optionality — particularly through Starlink as the utility of the future, delivering internet connectivity across the entire planet, with a significant lead over any potential competition. And beyond that, the possibilities of orbital data centres, lunar missions, Martian launches — all potentially powered by this company. The clever investor is the one who is fully aware of why they're buying into this story, and — especially for short-term players — knows when to sell when the hype starts to fade.
What should investors actually be tracking — Starlink revenue, launch revenue, cash flow?
All of those fundamentals matter and should be tracked by any investor approaching this from a fundamentals basis. At the end of the day, fundamentals will always carry weight on a company's valuation. But you also have to understand the dream behind the space narrative and learn to time market sentiment. A good investor works on both legs — the fundamentals and the aura of the stock.
Saudi Arabia's PIF, Mubadala, and the UAE both hold major stakes in SpaceX and also in OpenAI and Anthropic. Is the Gulf becoming the silent power behind Silicon Valley?
Definitely. The Gulf is putting its money where its mouth is. What these sovereign funds are doing is diversifying away from the old economy — from petrodollars and oil — and into the sectors that will be the infrastructure of tomorrow. Space and AI are exactly that. There is a very strong interest here that is not only economic and financial, but also political — a clear vision to be at the forefront of these new technologies. Are they a real power? It depends. Elon Musk still controls 82% of SpaceX, so the Gulf's influence has limits. But what I find clever about the GCC's approach is that they are trading capital for globalisation — putting money into these technologies in exchange for bringing some of that infrastructure back into the region. We saw an Emirati astronaut go to space for the first time a couple of years ago. They don't want to be passive investors. They want a piece of the action, and they want it here.
GCC sovereign wealth funds aren't just buying into SpaceX. Mubadala alone has a $100 billion war chest for AI, and PIF is funding its own AI champion. Is the Gulf one of the biggest funders of the global tech boom?
Yes. The Gulf wants to diversify, and they are putting their chips on all these new technologies — which will very likely be the backbone of tomorrow's growth. They are doing this not only to invest, but to capture the fundamentals and infrastructure of that growth. And as I mentioned, there is a strong interest in localising these investments — in bringing the technology physically into their territory.
Thank you so much for your time today. I really enjoyed this conversation.
My pleasure. Same here. Thank you.
