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It’s a brave person who calls a market closed or open, particularly for listings — you’ll forgive me if I’m not the one to make that plunge. But the gentle trickle of space IPOs since the start of the year, after a dearth of listings in recent years, isn’t going unnoticed.
Trive Capital-backed Karman Holdings, maker of defense and space systems, went public back in February with a valuation of nearly $4 billion as shares soared during their debut. Voyager Technologies clinched a $3.8 billion valuation two months ago, as the defense and space company’s stock opened 125% higher on Wednesday at $69.75 apiece, above its $31 offer price.
On Thursday, Northrop Grumman-backed Firefly Aerospace — whose Blue Ghost lander successfully touched down on the Moon earlier this year — surged in its Nasdaq debut under the ticker symbol FLY.
This might seem like a small step for some industries, but it’s a giant leap for traditional offerings for the space sector, where for some time players such as Intuitive Machines, Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile listed by way of mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) — shell firms that pool their IPO proceeds to consolidate with a private company and take it public, bypassing some of the typical regulatory scrutiny. SPAC deals seemed on the decline after an initial 2020-2021 flurry, but are trending once more Stateside. To that end, reusable rocket maker Innovative Rocket Technologies has said it will go public through a $400 million merger with BPGC Acquisition, a SPAC backed by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
