HawkEye 360's public offering hauls in $416M
The floor of the New York Stock Exchange on May 6. Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images
By
Ross Wilkers
Add this commercial satellite operator to the list of GovCon companies that achieved their initial goals by tapping into the public markets for new capital.
HawkEye 360 hauled in $416 million through its initial public offering that launched Wednesday after the commercial satellite operator’s shares became available at $26 each to open.
That price is at the high end of the range HawkEye 360 first indicated in late April, when the company launched its roadshow to generate demand for the stock. Investors are originally being offered 16 million shares from the IPO’s underwriters, which have a 30-day option to purchase another 2.4 million shares.
Based on those figures, HawkEye 360 has achieved a valuation of around $2.4 billion through the availability of its stock in the public markets. Herndon, Virginia-headquartered HawkEye 360 is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “HAWK.”
Shares in HawkEye 360 closed up 31% to $34.03 in their first day of trading on Thursday and were as high as $34.49.
HawkEye 360’s decision to tap into the public markets is the newest in a string of IPOs from other space and defense technology companies, while investors and many other stakeholders wait a public filing from SpaceX.
Voyager Technologies, Firefly Aerospace, York Space Systems, Merlin Labs and AEVEX Corp. all achieved their goals for net proceeds and valuations in their respective IPOs over the past 12 months.
Of its $416 million in proceeds fetched, HawkEye 360 will use the majority to pay down debt and put toward working capital and other general corporate purposes.
HawkEye 360 is also using $15 million for a deferred payment related to its acquisition in December of Innovative Signal Analysis, which was closed in conjunction with a $150 million Series E capital raise.
The venture capital arms of Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Airbus and Raytheon have all been investors in HawkEye 360 at various points since the latter company’s inception in 2015.
Insight Partners, Razor's Edge and NightDragon also have been involved in HawkEye 360 over the years. Insight Partners led the $145 million Series D round in 2021 and participated in the $58 million Series D-1 in 2023.
Regulatory filings on the IPO indicate that Insight Partners will hold a 15% stake in HawkEye 360, while NightDragon will hold 9.7% and Razor's Edge will be at 5%.
HawkEye 360 has launched 30 satellites to-date and recorded $117.6 million in revenue on $2.6 million in net income for 2025, while U.S. government work represented 61% of that year’s sales mix. Total backlog as of Dec. 31 stood at $302.6 million.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley are acting as lead book-running managers for HawkEye 360’s offering. RBC Capital Markets, Jefferies and BofA Securities are acting as additional book-running managers. Baird, Raymond James, and William Blair are acting as bookrunners. Drexel Hamilton is acting as co-manager.
CEO John Serafini and other members of HawkEye 360’s executive team rang the opening bell Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange.