Firefly Aerospace ignites Wall Street as it raises $868 million in biggest space IPO. All about SpaceX rival

Time of India

3 days ago

Firefly Aerospace, a market leading space and defense technology raised $868 million in its initial public offering, selling more than 19 million shares at $45 each.
Firefly Aerospace
began trading on Nasdaq Thursday after raising $868.3 million in the largest US listing this year by a space tech company.
That is ahead of both Trive Capital-backed Karman Holdings and Voyager Technologies, which went public earlier this year, reports news agency Reuters. Firefly Aerospace impressed Wall Street with its $45 per share IPO, topping recent launches from others in the sector like Karman Holdings and Voyager Technologies.
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Firefly Aerospace is scheduled to begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ:FLY).
Firefly Aerospace, which achieved a successful moon landing earlier this year, intends to allocate a portion of its IPO proceeds toward debt reduction, according to its prospectus.
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In 2024, the company generated approximately $61 million in revenue, marking a 10% rise from the previous year. However, its net loss widened significantly—from $136 million in 2023 to $231 million in 2024.
The company's research and development expenses jumped 27% to nearly $150 million, largely fueled by ongoing work on its Eclipse rocket and Elytra vehicle. U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which invested $50 million into Firefly in May, is one of the three suppliers of solid rocket motors to the U.S.
Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies and Wells Fargo Securities are the lead underwriters for the IPO.
All about Firefly Aerospace
Located in Cedar Park, Texas, Firefly Aerospace was founded in 2017 and is a space and defense technology company. Firefly specializes in cost-effective launch vehicles and spacecraft, including lunar landers, to provide space launch and mission services. In other words, the company helps get satellites and other vehicles into space.
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Firefly specializes in small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, as well as lunar landers and orbital vehicles. The Texas-based company focuses on cost-effective rockets and spacecraft, and made headlines in March with its Blue Ghost lander – becoming only the second private firm ever to pull off a successful moon landing.
With over $1.1 billion in contracts lined up and recent backing from defense giant Northrop Grumman, Firefly is deepening its presence in national security.
"Firefly has already demonstrated responsive launch capabilities and delivered a lunar payload-proof points that matter to the Space Force and NASA," Ali Javaheri, emerging technology analyst at PitchBook, told Reuters.
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"Investors will likely focus on backlog growth, gross margin trends as production scales, and Firefly's cash runway post-IPO," Javaheri said.
The company had a backlog of roughly $1.1 billion and more than 30 planned launches under contract as of March 31. The company, however, expects to incur net losses for the next several years, according to filings.
Firefly faces stiff competition in the space industry, most notably from Elon Musk's powerhouse, SpaceX. While SpaceX employs roughly 13,000 people (according to PitchBook), Firefly operates with a leaner team of over 800. The company prides itself on its nimbleness, claiming it can launch a satellite into orbit with just 24 hours' notice.