When SpaceX was a private company, investors with addresses in mainland China, Hong Kong and Russia bought stakes through a U.S. brokerage firm, new documents showed.

On June 18, IT outlet Ars Technica reported that the group included a businessman linked to a Chinese military contractor and an investor tied to Qatar royal funds.

The investor list made public this time again highlighted SpaceX's sensitive business structure. SpaceX has carried out sensitive government work, including a U.S. Defense Department reconnaissance satellite programme, and foreign funding is subject to strict regulation in the United States. SpaceX last week blocked share purchases by Chinese and Hong Kong investors during its initial public offering process, citing regulatory and compliance risks.

The documents show that at least 12 investors with addresses in mainland China, Hong Kong and Russia invested in SpaceX-related funds through Tomales Bay Capital in the United States between 2018 and 2021. The investments ranged from $800,000 to $40 million. Tomales Bay Capital bought SpaceX shares, packaged them into funds, sold them to outside investors and collected fees.

One China-linked case showed that a company owned by David Su (데이비드 수), a co-founder of Beijing venture capital firm MPCi, invested $15 million in a SpaceX fund in 2020. MPCi has worked with Chinese government investment funds, and China’s Ministry of Science and Technology last year cited the firm as a partner in a programme to foster the country’s aerospace industry. No evidence has been confirmed to date that David Su engaged in improper conduct.

The key issue is not the equity investment itself but whether investors gained access to non-public information. Sarah Bauerle Danzman (새라 바우얼리 댄즈먼), a professor at Indiana University who previously reviewed foreign investment at the U.S. State Department, said that if an investor has a conflict of interest with another company in China and information could flow to a competitor, it could raise national security concerns. MPCi said David Su has never received non-public information about SpaceX.

Tomales Bay Capital said the investors were passive limited partners who do not take part in management. It said it has never provided sensitive non-public SpaceX information to investors, and that the only information investors received was fund financial materials that included quarterly valuations. It also said many investors on the list are not Chinese or Russian citizens, and some may have listed only mailing addresses in those regions.

Court records also show indications that Tomales Bay Capital in 2021 touted the possibility that a potential Chinese investor could make contact with SpaceX management. At the time, Iqbaljit Kahlon (이크발지트 칼론) was shown to have offered quarterly business updates, a visit to SpaceX and an opportunity to interview the chief financial officer. SpaceX Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen (브렛 존슨) testified in court that Iqbaljit Kahlon had been with the company for longer than he had, in various forms.

Some links to Qatari money also emerged. Funds tied to Bracket Capital, which has offices in Los Angeles, London and Qatar, invested about $48 million through multiple deals from 2017 to 2020. An email Iqbaljit Kahlon sent to SpaceX’s chief financial officer said Bracket holds funds belonging to the Qatari royal family. The documents did not state whether the investment money actually represented the royal family.

The documents were unsealed during a corporate dispute in Delaware and are a rare case publicly showing the composition of SpaceX investors. Some investors had relatively clear identities, such as entities owned by an Indian politician, a former U.S. education secretary and an Indonesian billionaire, but others were shell companies with hidden ultimate owners.

The way SpaceX previously accepted Chinese money is also drawing renewed attention. According to testimony in the Delaware trial, SpaceX allowed equity investments when Chinese funds were routed through offshore financial hubs such as the Cayman Islands. SpaceX did not comment on the matter.