PANAJI: A little-known investor with Goan roots could emerge as one of the biggest winners if Elon Musk’s SpaceX finally goes public.
While the world’s attention remains fixed on Musk, Indian-origin billionaire investor Antonio Gracias, whose father emigrated from Goa to the United States, is quietly positioned to make a fortune from the long-awaited SpaceX IPO.
Gracias, one of Musk’s oldest confidants and early backers, reportedly controls a major stake in SpaceX through his firm Valor Equity Partners. With reports suggesting SpaceX could seek a valuation of nearly $2 trillion, his holdings alone could be worth around $128 billion (Rs 12.16 lakh crore).
Born and raised in the US, Gracias comes from a multicultural family. His father, originally from Goa, later became a neurosurgeon in Detroit, while his Spanish mother worked as a pharmacist.
Despite remaining largely out of the public spotlight, Gracias has spent decades helping finance Musk’s business empire. He founded MG Capital in 1995 while still studying law at the University of Chicago, a venture that later evolved into Valor Equity Partners.
Over the years, Valor invested heavily in Tesla, SpaceX, and, more recently, xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company.
Gracias joined SpaceX’s board in 2008, backing the company at a time when private space exploration was still viewed as highly risky by most investors. That early gamble now appears set to deliver one of the biggest wealth windfalls in modern tech history.
According to reports, Valor Equity and Gracias together hold about 7.3 per cent of SpaceX, making him one of the company’s largest shareholders after Musk himself.
Beyond SpaceX, Gracias has also played a key role in Musk’s AI expansion. Bloomberg recently reported that Valor helped structure financing deals for xAI’s large-scale computing infrastructure, including AI chips and data centres.
If the SpaceX IPO becomes one of the largest public listings ever, Gracias could suddenly become one of the most influential figures in global technology finance.
