Firefly Aerospace Sets to Raise $350 Million

Small launch vehicle developer Firefly Aerospace, nearing its first orbital launch attempt, is looking to secure $350 million to scale up production and work on a new, larger vehicle.

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Aerospace and Defense Review | Friday, July 01, 2022

During an IPO Edge webinar on January 26 about investment in the space industry, Tom Markusic, chief executive of Firefly Aerospace, stated that the funding the company is trying to raise fund which will support its long-term growth as it brings its Alpha launch vehicle into service and also develops a medium-class launch vehicle, Beta.

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Fremont, CA: Small launch vehicle developer Firefly Aerospace, nearing its first orbital launch attempt, is looking to secure $350 million to scale up production and work on a new, larger vehicle.

During an IPO Edge webinar on January 26 about investment in the space industry, Tom Markusic, chief executive of Firefly Aerospace, stated that the funding the company is trying to raise fund which will support its long-term growth as it brings its Alpha launch vehicle into service and also develops a medium-class launch vehicle, Beta.

“In the next five years we want to take Firefly from a $1 billion company when we go out and fly Alpha and the SUV,” he stated, a reference to an upper stage called the Space Utility Vehicle that can serve as a space tug, “to in about five years being on the order of a $10 billion company.”

Markusic stated that $125 million of the funding would go toward “production enhancements,” like facilities and tooling needed to ramp up launch vehicle production. That would include equipment used in the aircraft industry to produce large carbon-fiber composite structures that Firefly wants to apply to its vehicles. “What that means is that it will really help us realize that low-cost vision that we have for the company.”

The other $225 million would support growth initiatives, in particular a medium-class vehicle able to place 10 tons into orbit, about ten times the capacity of Alpha. The company plans to make the first launch of that larger vehicle by early 2024.

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