Jade Martinez-Pogue
February 23, 2026
3 Companies Begin Trading After Raising $1.3B In IPOs


3 min
AI-made summary
- • York Space Systems began trading publicly on the NYSE after raising $629 million in its upsized IPO, selling 18.5 million shares at $34 each. • York's IPO values the company at $4.3 billion, with Kirkland & Ellis advising the company and Davis Polk & Wardwell advising the underwriters. • Brazilian digital banking platform PicS raised $434 million in its Nasdaq IPO, offering 22.9 million shares at $19 each, reaching a $2.5 billion market value. • Life insurance technology platform Ethos Technologies raised approximately $200 million in its Nasdaq IPO, offering 10.5 million shares at $19 each. • The IPOs for York, PicS, and Ethos are all expected to close on Friday, with various law firms advising the companies and underwriters.
Satellite maker York Space Systems began trading publicly Thursday after raising $629 million in its upsized initial public offering, joining Brazilian digital banking platform PicPay and insurance platform Ethos Technologies, both of which also made their public debuts Thursday.
York sold 18.5 million shares for $34 apiece, marking the high end of the company's proposed range of $30 to $34. The company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under ticker symbol YSS, and the offering is expected to close Friday.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP advised the company, while Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP advised the underwriters.
At pricing, the company commands a fully diluted market value of $4.3 billion.
Founded in 2012, York is a space and defense company that provides a suite of mission-critical solutions for national security, government and commercial customers. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company says it is the number one provider to the U.S. Department of Defense's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) program by spacecraft operating in orbit, number of contracts and variety of contract types.
The company, which is backed by private equity firms BlackRock and AE Industrial Partners, originally planned to offer 16 million shares in its public offering, but ended up selling 18.5 million. York also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.775 million shares at the IPO price.
Meanwhile, Brazilian digital banking platform PicS began trading on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol PICS on Thursday after raising $434 million in its IPO.
The company offered 22.9 million shares at $19 each, the high end of the proposed $16 to $19 range. At pricing, the company commands a $2.5 billion market value.
The offering is expected to close Friday.
White & Case LLP advised the company, while Davis Polk advised the underwriters.
PicS says it is the second-largest digital bank in Brazil by number of customers. The company began with instant payments and the use of QR codes, and has since grown into a digital bank that offers financial products and services like digital wallets, credit cards, loans and buy now, pay later offerings, a statement said.
The company filed plans for its IPO at the beginning of the year, but at the time did not indicate the number of shares to be offered or a proposed price range for the offering.
Growth equity firm Bicycle Capital, along with other anchor investors, indicated an interest in buying $75 million worth of shares in the offering. The company also granted its underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional roughly 3.4 million Class A common shares at the IPO price.
Life insurance technology platform Ethos Technologies also began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under ticker symbol LIFE after raising approximately $200 million in its IPO.
The company offered 10.5 million shares for $19 each, the midpoint of the proposed $18 to $20 range. Of the shares being offered, roughly 5.1 million were sold by Ethos and around 5.4 million were sold by existing shareholders, according to an SEC filing.
Cooley LLP advised Ethos, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP advised its underwriters.
Ethos is a life insurance technology platform that says its goal is to protect families by democratizing access to life insurance. The company is backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel.
The offering is expected to close Friday.
The Kirkland team advising York on its IPO included Robert Hayward, Kevin Frank and Ashley Sinclair.
The Davis Polk team advising York's underwriters included Michael Kaplan, Stephen Byeff and Steven Glendon.
The White & Case team advising PicS on its IPO includes Donald Baker, John Guzman and Karen Katri.
The Davis Polk team advising PicS' underwriters includes Manuel Garciadiaz and Drew Glover.
The Cooley team advising Ethos includes Matthew Bartus, Jon Avina, Jean Park and Milson Yu.
The Simpson Thacher team advising Ethos' underwriters includes John Ericson and Heidi Mayon.
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Jade Martinez-Pogue
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