After True Anomaly Inc. expanded into Long Beach early last year, another Denver-based space defense company started testing the waters in Southern California’s booming aerospace scene.

Founded by Dylan Taylor and Matthew Kuta in 2019, Voyager Technologies Inc. last month secured a 140,000-square-foot facility in Long Beach, considered by many as the “Space and Innovation Beach.” The space defense technologies and infrastructure provider is known for developing Starlab – one of the major commercial space stations competing to replace NASA’s soon-retiring International Space Station – with Airbus.

Voyager President of Defense and National security Matt Magaña said the move came from a recognition of South Bay’s historical aerospace legacy, its proximity to the L.A.’s Space Force base in El Segundo, the talent it retains and its attraction to numerous space defense peers.

“It’s really still a mecca of innovation and growth, lots of diversity,” said Magaña, “For us, it was just a perfect marriage of trying to be where some of our partners are and where some of the modern defense companies have been setting up … the focus of this facility is really going to be AI and innovation.”

The move to Long Beach puts Voyager closer to other space defense players it partners with, including Anduril Industries Inc. and True Anomaly. Slated to be fully operational by the end of the year, the new facility is the fifth Voyager property in California, following locations in El Segundo, San Diego and Sacramento.

The new facility, previously a SpinLaunch Inc. property, will support the development of electronics and mission hardware, Low Earth Orbit space infrastructure, propulsion and defense systems and other aspects.

A bustling scene

Voyager is scaling rapidly.

The company saw fourth quarter net sales of $46.7 million, driven by a 63% increase from its defense and national security segment, according to its 2025 annual earnings report released in March. Its net sales for the year rose 15% at $166.4 million, and it broke a record year-end total backlog of $265.6 million, 33% more than the year before.

It also acquired five companies last year and landed a new contract last week with Icarus Robotics Corp. to test the latter’s Joyride, a free-flying robotic platform, aboard the International Space Station.

“2025 was a transformational year for Voyager. We successfully completed our IPO, delivered record fourth quarter revenue, and closed the year with record backlog and liquidity over $700 million,” said Taylor, Voyager chief executive, in the earnings statement. “Demand across defense, national security and space continues to accelerate and we are investing to address that increasing demand.”

Voyager stepped into a bustling scene that since World War II has hosted generations of aerospace defense companies, including Lockheed Martin Corp. and The Boeing Co. Space is rapidly transforming into private racing grounds for billionaires from Space Exploration Technologies Corp. founder Elon Musk to Blue Origin Enterprises’ Jeff Bezos, and L.A.’s historic ties to the industry provides an advantage. These original equipment manufacturers have given Los Angeles an opportunity to continue the aerospace evolution, said Michelle Iturralde, a managing director and market executive for Bank of America Corp., who heads a team of bankers exclusively focused on aerospace.

“The dynamics of aerospace – defensive space technologies – in Southern California is very unique to the rest of the country,” Iturralde said. “We have an emergence of the privatization of space right here in our backyard, and that’s becoming a significant opportunity.”

The departures of billionaires from California, including Musk who moved the company to Texas in 2024, is yet to dampen the rapid growth of the sector. Older startups such as Relativity Space Inc. have reached multi-billion valuations, while newer ones like Exploration Laboratories and Vast Inc. are developing everything from asteroid-mining technologies to commercial space stations.

“For every one company that may move outside of California for tax reasons, you have five or 10 emerging companies that are created here in Los Angeles,” Iturralde said.

The city of Long Beach specifically saw massive investor interest. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson told the Business Journal that by providing ample housing, specific aerospace development zones and easy access to city officials, the city has seized the chance to revive its historic legacy as a major aerospace hub.

“What we’re beginning to see now is second- and third-generation companies located in Long Beach,” Richardson said. “We are and we will continue to be an aerospace center, a major center and focal point of aerospace R&D here in the Southern California region.”

‘Buy and decide’ vs. ‘dream and develop’

The macro environment surrounding defense also propelled the soaring growth. President Donald Trump proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027, doubling the budget for this year. Multiple Long Beach-based companies have landed major contracts with the administration, including Rocket Lab Corp., which recently announced a $190 million contract with U.S. Department of War to develop 20 hypersonic test flights.

Speed is of the essence. A Deloitte study found that defense priorities this year emphasizes mission readiness, accelerating the development of artificial intelligence-enabled systems and collaborative combat aircraft.

That is not lost on Voyager, who has come to take a piece of the pie. After acquiring ExoTerra Resource – which makes electric satellite propulsion systems – last year, Voyager is heavily positioning itself for the Golden Dome, a multi-layer missile defense system project that already involved True Anomaly.

“Long Beach is showing that we’re not only trying to address the rapid things that are happening today with things like the Golden Dome,” Magaña said. “But more to address the long-term need for us to really innovate at the speed of relevance.”

Iturralde said that while the government historically used its defense dollars for research, development and “dreaming what could be,” it now wants to fund companies that provide a technological service to “implement and innovate existing capabilities” that meets the demand of the day. 

“A big part of the defense budget is technology and innovation,” Iturralde said. “Living with the geopolitical risks and environment that we’re in, we are learning that being able to ‘buy and decide’ versus ‘dream and develop’ is really the theme for the government.”

Reuters reported that space technology investment hit record levels last year, when private investment climbed 48% to $12.4 billion, according to London-based venture capital company Seraphim Space. The investment is only expected to grow in the coming months as governments ramp up its support for defense satellites, among other factors.

“(Space) is an area where we see a lot of commercial application and that perfect blend of dual-use capability, as you’ve seen with a lot of the technologies and capabilities that span both commercial, defense and civil (use),” said Magaña. “In the next five years, I see that only intensifying, where commercial partnerships drive capability technology investment. Particularly in space, you’re going to continue to see that exponential growth inside there.”