Voyager’s Big IPO Pop Shows Appeal of Defense Tech Stocks

Voyager Technologies VOYG closed its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $56.48 per share, giving it an 82% pop from its IPO price. It’s a temperature check for the hottest sector in venture capital outside of artificial intelligence: defense tech.

Voyager, a software provider for space and defense technology companies, priced its IPO at $31 per share on Tuesday night, setting a fully diluted market cap of $1.9 billion. Voyager stock fell back during Thursday’s session, but was still trading well above its debut pricing.

Voyager is an unusual IPO candidate in this period of illiquidity for venture. It’s still unprofitable, it’s relatively young (founded in 2019), and more than 80% of its $144.2 million in revenue in 2024 came from US government work. Voyager’s single biggest customer, NASA, accounted for over 25% of its revenue last year. It’s also growing at a slower pace than venture investors typically look for; net sales grew 6% year over year between 2023 and 2024.

The firm’s performance in the public markets will set the tone for other defense and space tech companies with major government contracts as a significant portion of their funding. Despite its risks, Voyager’s IPO terms are actually a significant premium from its last known valuation. Backed by investors including Midway Venture Partners, Hemisphere Ventures, and Gaingels, its Series A in early 2023 set its post-money valuation at $680 million, according to PitchBook data.

Notably, none of Voyager’s backers are listed in its regulatory documents as having at least a 5% stake in the company prior to the IPO. “It bodes well for new companies who can track a venture path against the Voyager multiple,” says Ross Fubini, managing partner and defense tech investor at XYZ Venture Capital.

A strong performance in the public market could clear a path for more defense tech companies like Anduril and Shield AI, which have been raking in capital from VCs. Unlike asset-light software brands, defense tech companies are incentivized to go public so they can access larger pools of capital and compete with legacy defense contractors. On Tuesday, Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey said the company would “definitely” go public at some point. Anduril recently announced a $2.5 billion funding round at a $30.5 billion valuation.