The New York-based Via has filed a confidential draft registration of Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Were that IPO to happen, Via would join a relatively tiny club of public companies directly engaged in government technology, or otherwise active in that space.
Jeff Cook, a managing director at Shea & Co., an investment bank that has advised in more than 50 gov tech deals, discussed it with Government Technology via email, writing, “I think it’s a very, very good thing for more gov tech companies to go public. There are still a tiny number of public gov tech companies relative to those serving the private sector and it’s good for retail/public market investors to have exposure to the category.”
Other public companies in the gov tech space include Tyler Technologies, Motorola Solutions, Axon and ServiceNow.
As Cook sees it, the more gov tech companies that go public, the more “data points” for future investors in the industry. That industry continues to produce robust results, with $3.1 billion worth of total deal volume in the first quarter of 2025.
He also said that those firms going public “starts to blaze the trail for future gov tech companies."
A public version of the S-1, of course, is required before an IPO.
The S-1 and its prospectus offer a comprehensive view of the company and detailed financial information, along with info about the sale and pricing of company shares — though, in its release, Via said its confidential filing provided no determination of the share amount and price range.
The documentation offers a deep view into company operations, plans and potential, while also serving as a buyer’s guide for investors.
Information previously released by Via showed the company has a valuation of $3.5 billion as of early 2023 — this was after a funding round that included new and existing investors Exor N.V., Pitango, Janus Henderson, CF Private Equity, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, and ION Crossover Partners.
According to Crunchbase, Via has raised $887.1 million, including $110 million in that 2023 funding round.
Under SEC rules, the new Via filing, though confidential, should be “as close to final as possible,” according to a blog from Greenberg Traurig, a law firm.
Previously, such confidential filings were available only to foreign-based companies, but that changed starting in 2012, the law firm said.
The idea of a confidential filing is to grant “issuers flexibility to avoid alerting the public market of the planned offering and sharing sensitive information until a more advanced stage of the offering process, if at all,” according to the blog.
The SEC updated its guidance on confidential filings earlier this year.
