The Ukrainian investor who co-founded Firefly Aerospace has sold off his stake in the company, and a new owner has led an additional $75 million investment round with hopes that the company’s launch vehicles will once again land government contracts.
Headquartered in Cedar Park, Firefly develops small and medium-sized launch vehicles, spacecraft and in-space services that provide affordable access to space for small and medium-sized payloads.
Firefly’s flagship launch vehicle Alpha launched for the first time in September and exploded before it could reach orbit. The company plans to use a portion of the recent Series B funds to launch Alpha again in the second quarter of this year.
Firefly also plans to use the funds for its Blue Ghost lunar lander, which recently completed the “critical design review” phase and will undergo final pre-fabrication “integration readiness review” in April.
Last year, the company said it planned to buy a 40,000-square-foot facility in the Scottsdale Crossing Technology Center, which is about two miles north of the company’s current facility on Arrow Point Drive.
One of Firefly’s co-founders, Ukrainian tech mogul Max Polyakov, stepped down from his day-to-day work with the company in 2020 to appease the U.S. government’s national security concerns, according to Bloomberg.
Polyakov’s investment firm, Noosphere Ventures, sold $100 million of its equity holdings to investors who participated in Firefly’s $75 million Series A round. Those two transactions propelled the company’s valuation above $1 billion.
Last year, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) requested that Noosphere Ventures sell off its remaining stake in the company.
On Wednesday, private equity firm AE Industrial announced that it led a $75 million Series B round to support Firefly’s growth, while also acquiring Noosphere’s remaining stake in the company for an undisclosed amount.
Firefly’s Series B valuation is undisclosed, but AE Industrial said in a news release that it is higher than its Series A valuation.
AE Industrial said the companies in its portfolio have served as strategic partners to U.S. national security agencies, which it believes will help Firefly in securing additional contracts with the U.S. government.
“AE Industrial’s ownership marks a new, exciting chapter for Firefly,” Firefly CEO Tom Markusic said in a statement. “These investments allow Firefly to build on the momentum from last year’s financing and better position us for future growth.”
