Chad Anderson is the founder and CEO of ***** e Capital, where he has been pioneering investment in the ***** e economy for over a decade. He is also the author of "The ***** e Economy," published by Wiley. Disclosure: Anderson is an early investor in ***** eX, along with dozens of other ***** e companies.
Every quarter, ***** e Capital tracks every dollar flowing into the ***** e economy. The midyear numbers are in: Private investment totaled $31.6 billion across 129 ***** e companies in the first half of 2026 — more than all of 2025, making this the strongest year on record for the ***** e economy, with two quarters still to go.
Since ***** eX (SPCX) came online in 2009, the ***** e economy has attracted $488 billion across more than 2,400 companies. If the ***** eX initial public offering (IPO) felt like a climax for the sector, the data suggests it was just the opening act.
No event looms larger over these numbers than that IPO. The market finally has a public benchmark for the company that has done more than any other to shape the modern ***** e economy. Yet almost immediately, the conversation shifted from valuation to identity, with some ***** ysts asking whether ***** eX should even be considered a ***** e company anymore.
That question misses the point. Wall Street has always categorized ***** e under aerospace and defense — hardware businesses valued on government contracts and program backlogs. That box no longer fits. The value in ***** e is accruing in layers that ***** ysts cover elsewhere: communications, compute, and AI.
Every quarter, ***** e Capital tracks every dollar flowing into the ***** e economy. The midyear numbers are in: Private investment totaled $31.6 billion across 129 ***** e companies in the first half of 2026 — more than all of 2025, making this the strongest year on record for the ***** e economy, with two quarters still to go.
Since ***** eX (SPCX) came online in 2009, the ***** e economy has attracted $488 billion across more than 2,400 companies. If the ***** eX initial public offering (IPO) felt like a climax for the sector, the data suggests it was just the opening act.
No event looms larger over these numbers than that IPO. The market finally has a public benchmark for the company that has done more than any other to shape the modern ***** e economy. Yet almost immediately, the conversation shifted from valuation to identity, with some ***** ysts asking whether ***** eX should even be considered a ***** e company anymore.
That question misses the point. Wall Street has always categorized ***** e under aerospace and defense — hardware businesses valued on government contracts and program backlogs. That box no longer fits. The value in ***** e is accruing in layers that ***** ysts cover elsewhere: communications, compute, and AI.
11 days ago
