SpaceX Surpasses OpenAI as World's Most Valuable Private Company at $1.25 Trillion

SpaceX Claims the Top Spot at $1.25 Trillion Elon Musk's SpaceX has officially become the world's most valuable private company, reaching a landmark $1.25 trillion valuation after completing its merger with xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence venture. The combined entity overtakes OpenAI, which itself surged to $840 billion following the largest private funding round ever recorded — a $110 billion investment led by Nvidia, SoftBank, and Amazon. Unicorn Landscape as of March 2026 According to data from BestBrokers, compiled from Crunchbase, TechCrunch, and PitchBook, the top US private companies by valuation now stand as: SpaceX + xAI: $1.25 trillion OpenAI: $840 billion Anthropic: $380 billion Stripe: $159 billion Databricks: $134 billion Waymo: $126 billion As of March 2026, a total of 1,705 companies globally have achieved unicorn status, with the United States accounting for 881 — more than half worldwide. Secondary Market Implications The dramatic revaluation of these AI-adjacent mega-unicorns is reshaping secondary market pricing dynamics. Secondary trades of SpaceX shares have been occurring at or above the latest primary round prices, signaling robust buyer demand. For OpenAI and Anthropic, the rapid valuation expansion compresses historical discount-to-NAV windows, making price discovery increasingly complex for secondary buyers. "The combination of SpaceX and xAI creates a private company of unprecedented scale — one that touches both orbital infrastructure and frontier AI. Secondary demand for these assets is structurally high." Why This Matters for Private Markets When the world's most valuable private company eclipses most public market peers, the pressure on LP portfolios holding these assets intensifies. Secondary sellers face thinner discounts as buyers compete aggressively for exposure. For institutional investors without direct primary access to SpaceX or OpenAI, the secondary market remains the only entry point — and pricing reflects that scarcity premium. This dynamic will likely persist through any eventual IPO process, which analysts project could represent a $3 trillion stress test for public markets.