The Secret Chinese Investors Who Bought SpaceX Before the IPO — One Had Ties to Military Contractors

A new ProPublica investigation obtained a private investor list showing that at least a dozen investors with addresses in mainland China, Hong Kong, or Russia acquired stakes in SpaceX between 2018 and 2021 through a U.S. middleman called Tomales Bay Capital. Among them is David Su, co-founder of Beijing VC firm MPCi, whose entity invested $15 million in a SpaceX fund in 2020. Su also backed Chinese satellite companies that were later sanctioned by the U.S. for assisting Russia's Wagner Group and Iran. MPCi has partnered with China's Ministry of Science and Technology on aerospace development.

SpaceX's business depends on sensitive U.S. government contracts, including spy satellites for the Pentagon. While Chinese investment in U.S. military contractors is not banned, it is heavily regulated. SpaceX barred investors from China and Hong Kong from its recent IPO due to regulatory risks. The key national security concern is whether these investors gained nonpublic information about SpaceX technology or strategies. Tomales Bay Capital's lawyer maintains investors only received quarterly financials and no sensitive data. MPCi claims Su is a Singapore citizen with no access to nonpublic SpaceX information.