Chasing SpaceX, the mega IPO is coming

Shortly after SpaceX went public, the "Chinese version of SpaceX" is once again heading for the A-share market.

After its IPO process was suspended, LandSpace recently restarted its IPO. With the "Zhuque-2" series launch vehicles and the "Zhuque-3" launch vehicle, this commercial aerospace company has successfully completed 7 liquid-propellant launch missions.

With the updated prospectus, the public can get a glimpse of LandSpace's latest situation. With recognitions from customers including China StarNet and Yuanxin Satellite, the company's revenue has increased from less than 1 million yuan in 2022 to over 52 million yuan in 2025. However, affected by factors such as R&D investment, its net loss in 2025 also exceeded 1.7 billion yuan.

At the same time, the company also announced the latest progress of the "Zhuque-3" reusable Y2 launch vehicle test. At present, the rocket has completed static ignition tests at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Pilot Zone. With all key ground verification work before launch fully completed, the "Zhuque-3" reusable Y2 launch vehicle is approaching its official launch.

Achievements like these would not have been possible without the huge lineup of investors behind them.

With the support of HSG, Matrix Partners China, Capital Fund, Creation Angels, Goldwind, China Growth Capital, Lightspeed China Partners, Noah Holdings, Shining Momentum, Pudong Capital, Legend Capital, Yizhuang Industrial Investment, Qianhai FOF, Shunxi Capital, CICC Capital, Haifa Group, National SME Development Fund, National Industrial Investment Fund, National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund and other institutions, LandSpace's valuation exceeds 20.6 billion yuan.

Tsinghua Alumni Build Rockets, A Star Unicorn Emerges in Beijing

In the wave of China's commercial aerospace entrepreneurship, LandSpace was one of the earliest players to enter the market.

Back in 2014, Zhang Changwu, who worked in the Asia-Pacific Strategic Investment Department of Santander Bank in Spain, found that there was clear demand for low-orbit satellite launches in the global satellite launch market. The large number of satellites waiting to be launched and the scarce launch resources created a supply-demand imbalance like a "blocked lake".

At that time, China began to vigorously support the development of commercial aerospace, which meant a huge opportunity. Therefore, Zhang Changwu, a post-80s generation with an MBA from Tsinghua University and a business background, chose to team up with two veteran aerospace professionals, Wang Jianmeng and Wu Shufan, to found LandSpace in Beijing Yizhuang in 2015.

As Zhang Changwu's father-in-law, Wang Jianmeng is an expert in satellite launch and international aerospace cooperation. He has served as a dispatcher at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and a senior engineer in aerospace systems engineering at the China Satellite Launch and Control System Department. As for Wu Shufan, he worked at the European Space Agency for many years and founded the commercial satellite company MinoSpace.

The "business + technology" team combination laid the foundation for LandSpace's development. Despite widespread doubts, they set a series of challenging goals in the early stage of entrepreneurship, including developing liquid rockets, independently developing full-stack liquid oxygen-methane engines, and achieving reusability, and aspired to become a world-class commercial rocket enterprise.

"We are aiming for an extremely lofty and valuable goal," Zhang Changwu once admitted in an interview with *Shuimu Tsinghua*, "At that time, many people said I came from the financial industry, didn't understand the industry, and was too naive. But it is precisely these 'unrealistic' goals that have formed our advantages throughout the whole process and led us to where we are today."

According to the payload capacity for low-Earth orbit, rockets can be divided into small, medium, large and heavy launch vehicles. Facing the fiercely competitive market environment, they did not blindly follow their competitors, but entered the market with medium-sized liquid rockets, which had relatively less competition and huge market potential.

As early as 2016, LandSpace began to lay out liquid rocket engines. However, in order to validate the entire business model, the company chose to develop the small solid rocket "Zhuque-1" first in 2017. Although the "Zhuque-1" launch failed in 2018, it obtained China's first private launch license and opened up the entire process from development to launch.

Soon after, they focused on the development of the "Zhuque-2" series launch vehicles. This medium-sized liquid-propellant launch vehicle using liquid oxygen and methane as propellants, after its first flight failure, successfully achieved consecutive orbital insertion with the Y2 and Y3 rockets in 2023, making the "Zhuque-2" series the world's first liquid oxygen-methane launch vehicle to successfully enter orbit.

After years of dedicated efforts, LandSpace has successfully completed 7 liquid-propellant launch missions. The successful first flight of the medium-to-large reusable liquid oxygen-methane launch vehicle "Zhuque-3" also means that it has built China's first reusable launch vehicle that has been launched and successfully entered orbit.

Dozens of Investment Institutions Are Optimistic, Valuation Exceeds 20.6 Billion Yuan

Continuous technological breakthroughs have also attracted sustained attention from investors for LandSpace. Along the way, it has completed more than 15 rounds of financing and gained the favor of dozens of investment institutions.

However, in the early stage, the company's financing was not smooth. Although policies supported the development of commercial aerospace, the industry characteristics such as high technical barriers, high trial-and-error costs, and long return cycles made many investors cautious. When Zhang Changwu first met investors, they were frequently asked: Can the rocket be built? Will the government allow the launch? Can the launch site be used?

Thus we can see that in the year of its establishment, LandSpace only completed a 10 million yuan angel round financing from Creation Angels. In 2016, although the company obtained hundreds of millions of yuan in financing from institutions including Yongbai Capital and Shaanxi Financial Control Capital, there was still a significant funding gap before it could successfully build a rocket.

Soon after, they ushered in a turning point. In 2017, LandSpace signed a rocket launch service agreement with Denmark's Gomspace, obtaining China's first international commercial rocket launch service order undertaken by a private commercial aerospace enterprise. In the same year, in addition to obtaining tens of millions of yuan from the Xi'an High-tech Zone Investment Fund, the company also received over 200 million yuan in special comprehensive investment for military-civilian integration from Huzhou, Zhejiang Province.

In 2018, the "Zhuque-1" achieved its first orbital launch, successfully validating LandSpace's business model. At that time, the company completed two rounds of financing, raising 500 million yuan from institutions including Goldwind, Century Tianhua, Guokai Ronghua, Creation Angels, Yongbai Capital, China Growth Capital, Zhongji Investment, Juzhuo Capital, 36Kr Fund, and Zhongtian Century.

Even with hundreds of millions of yuan in funds already obtained, after starting the development of the "Zhuque-2" series launch vehicles, they still fell into a shortage of funds. Fortunately, after active communication with Country Garden Ventures, LandSpace, which originally planned to raise 200 million yuan, obtained a 500 million yuan investment from the institution in December 2019, and finally got through the difficult period.

With the "Zhuque-2" successfully completing a number of important ground tests, the company completed another 1.2 billion yuan financing in September 2020, with investors including HSG, Country Garden Ventures, Matrix Partners China, listed companies under Capital Fund, National SME Development Fund, Huzhou Saiyuan Government Fund, Lightspeed China Partners, Noah Holdings, Yanfu Investment, Yunbai Capital, Lake International, Rongchao Investment, Luxin Venture Capital, Yisheng Investment, and Juzhuo Capital.

With the support of numerous investors, LandSpace entered a fast track of development. It not only achieved the successful orbital insertion of the world's first liquid oxygen-methane rocket and China's first reusable liquid oxygen-methane rocket, but also established a systematic full-chain delivery capability and an independent technology system. Although it is still in a loss-making state, its revenue has increased from less than 1 million yuan in 2022 to over 52 million yuan in 2025.

It is also during the company's rapid growth that institutions including Shining Momentum, Pudong Capital, Zhangjiang Haohang, Jingming Capital, Guozhu Capital, Yushan Capital, Yizhuang Industrial Investment, HTO Capital, Capital Fund, National Industrial Investment Fund, Qianhai FOF, Smart Connected Industrial Fund, Lamas Capital, Shunxi Capital, Xinding Capital, National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, CICC Capital, Shangqi Capital, Xi'an High-Tech Investment, Wuxi Venture Capital, Novastar, and Haifa Group have become its shareholders.

In June 2025, LandSpace obtained 150 million yuan from BOC Asset and Legend Capital. With the completion of the last round of pre-IPO financing, the company's valuation exceeded 20.6 billion yuan.

Commercial Aerospace, The IPO Wave Is Coming

LandSpace's IPO is just the beginning. China's commercial aerospace sector is ushering in a capitalization boom.

After SpaceX went public, the IPO progress of the "Chinese version of SpaceX" has also attracted much attention. LandSpace and CAS Space are leading the IPO process, both of which have submitted listing applications and are in the "inquired" status. The other three companies collectively known as the "Five Little Dragons" of commercial aerospace—Tianbing Technology, i-Space, and Galactic Energy—are still in the listing tutoring stage.

As China's first mixed-ownership rocket enterprise, CAS Space is backed by the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Led by industry veteran Yang Yiqiang, this private commercial launch vehicle company, the only one in China that has undertaken multiple major national launch missions and overseas satellite launch missions, has successfully launched 14 rockets and sent 107 satellites into space.

After years of development, CAS Space has products including the Lijian series launch vehicles, the Lihong series reusable vehicles and spacecraft, and the Liqing series reusable liquid engines. According to the company, the single launch cost of the unretrieved Lijian-2 is basically equivalent to that of the retrieved SpaceX Falcon 9, and if recovery is achieved in the future, the cost is expected to be reduced to half of SpaceX's.

Behind these achievements lies the support of institutions including Yunhui Capital, Redwood Capital, CAS Star, Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Sinovation Ventures, Sichuan Industrial Fund, Yuekai Capital, Guangzhou Industrial Investment, Industrial Control Capital, and Guangzhou Light Industry Group. With the optimism of numerous investors, CAS Space has not only become Guangzhou's first commercial aerospace unicorn, but also currently has a valuation of about 15 billion yuan.

In addition to commercial rocket enterprises, satellite manufacturing companies such as MinoSpace and Spacety, as well as players in the aerospace TT&C track such as SpaceTs, have all embarked on the IPO path. According to incomplete statistics, more than 10 enterprises in China's entire commercial aerospace industry chain have officially launched their listing processes.

Not long ago, MinoSpace applied for listing on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, expected to become the "first commercial satellite stock". By successfully completing two "one rocket, five satellites" orbital launches, the company has launched a total of 32 satellites. At present, its satellites not only cover weights from 10kg to 500kg, but can also be used in scenarios such as communication, navigation, and remote sensing.

Throughout its development, MinoSpace, which has gained the favor of institutions including CAS Star, Yuanhang Capital, Creation Angels, Shenzhen Venture Capital, Yonghua Investment, Dhilong Capital, Plum Ventures, Noah Holdings, Lightspeed China Partners, Anfeng Capital, Ceyuan Capital, IDG Capital, Wuxi Venture Capital, Yuanhe Chongyuan, National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, Yuexiu Industrial Fund, and Yangtze River Aerospace Industrial Fund, has grown into a star unicorn.

More importantly, policy support is boosting the listing of enterprises in the commercial aerospace sector. As early as June 2025, the China Securities Regulatory Commission planned to expand the scope of application of the Fifth Set of Standards for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, mentioning sectors including commercial aerospace. Six months later, the Shanghai Stock Exchange stated that it supports high-quality commercial rocket enterprises that have not yet achieved a certain revenue scale to issue and list on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board.

With policy support and market expectations, Chinese commercial aerospace enterprises are collectively choosing to go through the IPO process. As more and more players enter the capital market, the listing wave of China's commercial aerospace is accelerating.

Author: Lu Zhigao

Editor: Wang Qingwu

Source: Dongsishitiao Capital

This article is from the WeChat official account "Dongsishitiao Capital", author: Lu Zhigao, published with authorization from 36Kr.