kiran kambly

when the right sets the anchor and the wrong gets to sail, I'm a Whale!!!

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@TheBengalInc @manikantan_ca Increase ROI on solar projects by pairing with Energy Storage! Massive job creation opportunity + RE penetration = Data Centers/Hyperscalers will follow.

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@TheBengalInc Building full stack vertically integrated battery manufacturing. Currently scoping locations with access to port. Would love to connect and present the vision. - [email protected]

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@TheBengalInc BBB - Make Bengal the Battery Bastion for the World

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@mmpandit Reminded me of “Pothi padhe padhe naa muaaa pandit hua na koi…”

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@sagarikaghose @AITCofficial @BJP4India @MamataOfficial

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@ARanganathan72 Good morning

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@ARanganathan72 🔥

[kiran kambly @kambly]

DOMINATION… Congratulations #TeamIndia !

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In January 2015, Google and Fidelity wrote a combined $1 billion check for roughly 10% of SpaceX. The company was valued at $12 billion. Google’s portion: approximately $900 million for 7.4%.

At the time, SpaceX had just successfully landed a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time. Starlink was a PowerPoint presentation. Revenue was a rounding error compared to today.

Ten years later, SpaceX has become the most valuable private company on Earth.

The valuation trajectory tells the story:

2015: $12 billion
2020: $36 billion
2021: $100 billion
2022: $127 billion
2023: $180 billion
June 2024: $210 billion
Late 2024: $350 billion
2026 IPO target: $1.5 trillion

That $900 million investment from Google? At the $1.5 trillion IPO target, it would be worth approximately $111 billion.

A 123x return. From one check.

To put that in perspective: Adobe’s entire market cap is $144 billion. Google’s single 2015 investment in SpaceX would be worth more than 75% of one of the largest software companies on the planet.

But here’s where it gets interesting.

In Q1 2025, Alphabet reported $8 billion in unrealized gains from a “non-marketable equity security in a private company.” Bloomberg confirmed it was SpaceX. That $8 billion boost represented nearly 25% of Google’s entire net income for the quarter.

One investment. One quarter. Almost a quarter of their earnings.

And that was based on the $350 billion valuation from late 2024. If SpaceX hits the $1.5 trillion target, the paper gains from this single position could exceed $80 billion more.

The financial return alone would justify calling this one of the greatest venture investments ever made. But the financial return is actually the boring part.

Look at what SpaceX has become.

Starlink went from zero subscribers in 2020 to 1 million in 2022 to 4.6 million by end of 2024 to 8 million by November 2025. They’re doubling annually. Revenue hit $7.7 billion in 2024, up from $1.4 billion in 2022. Projections for 2025: $11.8 billion. Starlink now represents 58% of SpaceX’s total revenue and the majority of its profits.

SpaceX has reused a single Falcon 9 booster more than 20 times. They completed 134 Falcon-family launches in 2024. They’re on pace for 150+ in 2025. They now account for approximately 90% of the world’s payload mass delivered to orbit.

Read that again. One company. Ninety percent of global payload mass.

The reusability breakthrough is what made Starlink possible. You can’t launch 7,500+ satellites on expendable rockets. The math doesn’t work. But when you can reuse boosters 20 times and turn launches around in under 30 days, you can build an orbital internet constellation that would have been economically impossible for any other company on Earth.

And then there’s the government money.

SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell said the company holds $22 billion in government contracts. Pentagon contracts alone total nearly $8 billion. The Space Force just awarded SpaceX $5.92 billion for satellite launches through 2029. The National Reconnaissance Office signed a classified $1.8 billion contract for Starshield, SpaceX’s militarized satellite network for intelligence and surveillance. The Pentagon plans to acquire more than 100 Starshield satellites for its future satcom architecture.

SpaceX is now the dominant launch provider for the U.S. military, the U.S. intelligence community, and NASA. They have more government contracts than most defense contractors, but they’re valued like a tech company because they actually are one.

Starlink isn’t just consumer internet anymore. It’s 75,000 vessels with maritime connectivity. 300 cruise ships. United, Air France, Hawaiian Airlines. Direct-to-cell service launching with T-Mobile. Military encrypted communications via Starshield. Ukraine’s battlefield connectivity runs on Starlink.

This used to be a rocket company. Now it’s a telecom company that happens to own the rockets.

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@tsungxu Wonderful! Will be rooting for you.

[Christian Keil @pronounced_kyle]

Everything is energy.

[Saraswati Films @mmpandit]

There you go.
You requested a column for Oak.
Nilesh Oak debunked as well.
5561BCE gone.

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@rahulroushan @AskPerplexity context please.

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@elonmusk How do I unsee the slight asymmetry in this picture?

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@tsungxu Curious on how did you arrive at these specs.. Why 4+1? Why not 1+1 given the specific energy constraints to get the aerodynamic balancing right first?

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@x_rahulraj What make/model?

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@stats_feed Simba

[kiran kambly @kambly]

What an incredible finish especially after that grueling game with Keymer! Congratulations @rpraggnachess .

Tough luck @DGukesh you gave it all!

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@ankursingh He’s very correct, the sight of tofu must be equally unsettling as watching a chicken leg being devoured. Makes total sense.

[kiran kambly @kambly]

@libsoftiktok Thou shall clearly need to be “unburdened” by what thou has been to what thou really ought to be…