Trive-Backed Karman Space & Defense Completes Successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. (Photo by Thrive Capital)

Karman Space & Defense, a California-based integrated space systems manufacturer startup, raised over $500 million for investors and shareholders since it successfully completed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in February. The stock began trading under the ticker symbol “KRMN” on Feb. 13 and opened with more than a 30% increase from its initial public offering price. The jump in share price led to a $4 billion valuation of the company.

Karman’s Chairman of the Board David Stinnett, who is also a partner at the Dallas-based private-equity firm Trive Capital, lauded the company’s successful IPO. “Karman’s successful initial public offering represents the next chapter of Trive’s long-term investment focus in near peer nation state technologies … We believe Karman’s unique ability to rapidly develop, test and deploy technologies for high priority space and defense programs positions the Company for long-term success. We are thrilled to have contributed to Karman’s evolution and eagerly look forward to its next chapter of success,” Stinnett said.

Thrive Capital reported in December that it was exploring a potential sale or IPO for Karman, which has taken advantage of a recent boom in defense contractor activities.

Karman has more 1,000 employees and operates nine facilities across four states, serving space and defense primes with vertically integrated capabilities across advanced material design, proprietary modeling, energetic systems, propulsion, deployment, testing, and manufacturing expertise. The company provides end-to-end manufacturing of  sub-assemblies on current and future generation launch vehicles, missiles, hypersonics, and counter UAS systems.

“We are just getting started,” said Tony Koblinski, CEO of Karman. “This milestone enhances our capacity to meet the evolving needs of our customers, ensuring we can support national security and space missions while fulfilling our mission to ‘expand what is possible’ through innovation and collaboration.”