Voyager IPO Skyrockets as Investors Bet Big on the Space Sector

Welcome to FinTech TV.

I'm Remy Blair.

Voyager Technology is going public here at the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol VOYG.

The Denver, Colorado-based company was founded in 2019 and has completed more than 2000 missions from over 30 nations.

The company is also developing SA Lab, a potential commercial successor to the International.

This listing comes as the US government is expected to boost spending on defense and space projects.

Joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange is Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO of Voyager Technologies.

Dylan, a big day here for your company, not to mention this listing here at the exchange.

You just rang the opening bell here at the New York Stock Exchange.

So why now for going public?

Yeah, well, great to be with you, Remy.

Thank you for this.

A couple of things we were purpose built really to be a public company.

The vision for the company was, could you create a technology and innovation platform disrupting A&D and be the best of both worlds, prime contractor capable, but denominate that on flexible.

Adaptable, innovative business model and so we were purpose built to be public company ready.

We resisted the spat craze which took hold of the industry at one point in time.

We thought it was important to go public the old fashioned way, traditional S1, high quality management team, public company ready, and we've completed that journey and now is a key milestone in our growth initiative.

And as you take a step back and look at what you've accomplished for a company so far, what is next and how do you plan on using the capital raised?

Yeah, well, I'll answer the second part first.

So we want to focus on these growth vectors that we've created.

One is for space infrastructure.

So you mentioned the commercial space station initiative we have called STAR Lab.

We're focused on getting that in orbit by 2029 before the International Space Station comes down, so that's a key initiative.

We have a very robust national security and defense business, and we're part of what's likely to be a Golden Dome, although we're still working through exactly what that means.

And so smart missile defense is Another area that we're playing in and then another growth vector for us is software and software enabled hardware.

So we'll be deploying capital in those different growth vectors and ultimately we will likely do more acquisitions.

We've done 7 since our founding, so we've been quite inquisitive.

I would anticipate we would do more acquisitions going forward as well.

And Dylan, for our viewers who might not be as familiar with the opportunities in the space since you highlighted growth, give us an understanding of what this could mean not just in the next year, but 5 years and beyond.

Yeah, so I think let's take space infrastructure as an example.

There are going to be commercial space stations, right?

That's going to happen.

We will replace the International Space Station with a commercial model.

So instead of government owned and operated, it will be commercial owned.

And operated and the government will use it as a service.

So that is a new paradigm shift.

This has happened before.

This is what happened with rocketry when the space shuttle was retired, and this is what gave birth, of course, to SpaceX and you know other launch companies like Blue Origin and Rocket Lab and the others.

So this has happened before.

That's going to be a big push.

We're going to be going back to the moon eventually.

All those railroad tracks, if you will, between low Earth orbit and the moon need to be laid, and then on the moon itself, a lot of infrastructure needs to be built as well.

So we have huge opportunities in space infrastructure and then again on the national security and defense side that's just now being reimagined.

With the new innovative technology, and we're one of the key disruptors in that particular space.

There are others, of course, and in the private markets.

They're playing quite well in this space, but that's also an area that we're really focused on as well.

And you mentioned a key word there, Dylan, and that is disruptors.

So for your vision as the company goes public here at the New York Stock Exchange, what does that look like?

Well, I think this is not a destination.

This is a signpost, if you will, on the ultimate goal, which is to create a company that doesn't currently exist, and that is capable of doing any project, any mission critical capability that our nation or any Western.

The nation needs to do it to perfection in a no fail manner, but doing it leveraging technology, leveraging innovation, and if we do that, I think it's a classic win win win win because it's going to be at a lower cost point than what government can do it themselves with a better outcome.

And ultimately obviously our investors would benefit from that as well.

And Dylan, finally, before I let you go, you mentioned the word government, and 2025 has been a year where we're looking at policy and usually here at the New York Stock Exchange we're talking about monetary policy as well as fiscal policy, but when it comes to government policy surrounding your industry, what can we expect?

Unclear, we don't know.

So for example, we don't know who the NASA administrator is going to be, but even in the president's so-called skinny budget, the initiatives that were primarily focused on the commercial space station, that was very well protected in that budget.

So I'm not.

Losing any sleep over what that might mean for our particular business, but I think obviously with budget cuts what is likely to happen is NASA and other government buyers are going to have to leverage new solutions in order to meet their objectives.

So I think ultimately in an ironic way a budget cut actually ultimately fuels our growth because we're going to be one of the providers they're going to look to to drive innovation.

OK, well, thank you so much for joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange, Dylan, and congratulations to the company.

Thank you.