Plus: A flurry of tech companies will likely join this year’s IPO bonanza. And Hyundai Mobis’s robot parts business is poised for growth. Imani Moise hosts.
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[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_00] Here's your morning TNB Tech Minute for Tuesday, August 25th. I'm Imani Moise for The Wall Street Journal. Rocket Maker Ursa Major Technologies is going public through a blank check merger that will value the defense contractor at roughly $2.3 billion. After merging with a special purpose acquisition company, the Rocket Maker expects to start trading on the NASDAQ in the first quarter of 2027. Ursa Major is one of the companies developing ultra-fast hypersonic missiles for the Pentagon.
[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_00] The deal announced today provides at least $350 million of investment in equity anchored by Inflection Point, an investment firm that has backed companies serving supply chains that U.S. officials deem critical for national security. The U.S. IPO market is already on track for a record year after SpaceX raised $86 billion in its June offering. It's expected to easily top the current IPO record of $156 billion raised in 2021.
[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00] AI giant Anthropic could raise even more than SpaceX in its debut, which is being teased to investors now alongside a bevy of smaller tech listings. Smart ring maker Aura is now weighing a fall offering after filing its paperwork in May. That's according to people familiar with the matter. Switch, which operates data centers, and SoftBank-backed SB Energy, which develops data centers as well as supplies to power them, are both meeting with investors in anticipation of offerings later this year.
[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00] NeoCloud Company and Scale is also meeting with prospective investors. OpenAI, Anthropic's chief rival, has been considering a 2026 listing, though some people familiar with the matter say it could be pushed until next year. And analysts say Hyundai Mobis is likely to get a significant valuation boost from its burgeoning robot actuator business. The South Korean vehicle component maker is evolving into a key robot component supplier for its parent, Hyundai Motor Group,
[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00] and is expected to produce about 350,000 actuators a year by 2028, enough to equip 11,000 Atlas humanoid robots. Analysts predict the actuator business could generate $1.2 trillion won, or about $850 billion by 2030. And that's your TNB Tech Minute. We'll be back this afternoon with more.