Following the June IPO of SpaceX, Harvard University disclosed a $2.2 billion investment in the company, the largest among university endowment funds. These endowment funds, which help to sustain extended periods of economic growth, are managed by money collected from alumni donations and prior institutional investments.
For universities, SpaceX is considered a compelling investment because of its dominant position in the space transportation industry. Last year, the company recorded 167 total launches and more than $18 billion in total consolidated revenue.
At an Aug. 4 earnings call, founder Elon Musk lauded the company’s swift growth. “It’s been another milestone year for SpaceX so far,” he said. “We’re making great progress [toward] developing a fully and rapidly reusable, reliable rocket with Starship.”
SpaceX was founded by Musk in 2002 and has never been profitable, despite high revenue. Nevertheless, the company’s IPO was the biggest ever in U.S. history, even beating the 2019 market record of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.
Since the IPO, SpaceX stock has crashed substantially from a high of over $200 per share on June 16 to just $108 per share on July 31. It has since enjoyed a slight recovery to $141 per share as of Aug. 28.
It’s unclear when Harvard first chose to invest in SpaceX, as most of its shares were acquired prior to the IPO through venture capital allocations. The disclosure was first revealed to the public through a 13F filing on Aug.14.
These 13F filings, which the SEC requires all institutional investors holding more than $100 million in U.S. securities to submit, contain an information table that lists all the stocks owned by the given institution.
However, Harvard is not the only university to invest in SpaceX. Washington University in St. Louis invested $50 million of its endowment money into SpaceX around 2016. The university has since received more than 3000% in returns.
“We have maintained a strategy of finding promising partners and deploying additional capital when attractive opportunities arise,” said Scott Wilson, Washington University’s chief investment officer.
SpaceX has also received large investments from other universities, including the University of California and the University of North Carolina, according to Yahoo Finance.
This year, Harvard’s market gains come at a crucial time as the university struggles with sourcing federal research funds.
In 2025, the Trump Administration cancelled nearly $3 billion of research grants to Harvard after the university rejected the government’s demands regarding governance, hiring and admissions.
Although a federal district judge later ruled the cancellations to be unlawful, Harvard’s funding remains frozen as the case moves through federal appeals courts.
Although Harvard’s investment is worth $2.2 billion in market value, the gains will only be realized if the university chooses to sell its SpaceX shares.
Despite SpaceX’s own unprofitability, Harvard itself has enjoyed high returns, with its endowment fund now managing around $57 billion.
