Firefly Aerospace Files For An Ipo

1 week ago

2:57 PM PDT · July 11, 2025

Firefly Aerospace is taking its orbital ambitions to nan nationalist markets. The company, which notched a drawstring of successes this year, including a historical commercialized satellite landing, submitted its general declaration to regulators Friday detailing its plans to IPO sometime this year.

The S-1 document submitted to nan U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provides a wide-ranging look into nan company’s finances and governance plans, though nan number of shares to beryllium offered and their value scope has not been disclosed. This intends nan last valuation is still to beryllium determined.

Firefly is heading into nan Initial Public Offering pinch $176.9 cardinal successful rate and rate equivalents. And while it has incurred antagonistic rate flows and losses from operations, Firefly projected that its rate is capable to meet its liquidity needs for astatine slightest 12 months.

The institution does person a batch of debt: astir $173.6 million, including a $136.1 cardinal word indebtedness pinch a 13.87% liking rate. The nett proceeds from nan IPO will beryllium utilized successful portion to repay that outstanding borrowing, according to nan S-1.

Firefly reportedly scored $55.8 cardinal successful gross arsenic of March 31, up from conscionable $8.3 cardinal for nan aforesaid play successful 2024. The mostly of that — astir $50 cardinal — is from “spacecraft solutions,” aliases its Blue Ghost lander missions, and conscionable $5 cardinal from launch. But hardware is an costly endeavor, and Firefly is still burning a batch of money: nan costs of sales, aliases incurred expenses, was astir arsenic overmuch arsenic revenue: astir $53 cardinal arsenic of March 31, leaving conscionable $2.2 cardinal successful gross profit.

The institution operated astatine a nett nonaccomplishment of $231.1 cardinal for nan 2024 fiscal year, up from $135.5 cardinal successful 2023. Its nett losses astatine nan extremity of nan first 4th were $60.1 million.

Yet nan institution tells prospective investors that it sees thing but maturation ahead, and there’s a fistful of immense developments successful nan pipeline that could beryllium that to beryllium true. That includes a awesome partnership pinch defense elephantine Northrop Grumman for a new, reusable motorboat conveyance called Eclipse, a motorboat statement for up to 25 launches pinch Lockheed Martin, and nan impending commercialized debut of Elytra, a spacecraft line designed for in-space proscription services.

The institution besides cited beardown customer demand, noting that arsenic of March 31 it had astir $1.1 cardinal worthy of backlogged motorboat orders and spacecraft contracts. That’s astir double from nan $560 cardinal successful backlogged orders it had from a twelvemonth prior. That large boost came from 3 multi-launch agreements for Firefly’s mini Alpha rocket and an further lunar transportation statement for its Blue Ghost lander.

The regulatory archive besides states Firefly intends to beryllium a “controlled company” — essentially, that it will leverage Nasdaq rules to guarantee that AE Industrial Partners, nan backstage equity patient that bought a mostly liking successful Firefly successful 2022, will clasp important governance power complete nan institution moreover aft it is listed connected nan nationalist markets.

The institution intends to database connected nan Nasdaq Global Markets nether nan ticker awesome $FLY. The news comes aft a comparative quiet play of abstraction institution exits. There was a slew of abstraction companies that went nationalist via mergers pinch typical intent acquisition companies successful 2021 and 2022, galore of which person grounded to perform.

Firefly’s IPO will apt supply immoderate much-needed liquidity to nan market. Its IPO comes conscionable 1 period aft Voyager Space, a abstraction institution building nan backstage abstraction position Starlab, revenge its IPO paperwork past month.

Aria Alamalhodaei covers nan abstraction and defense industries astatine TechCrunch. Previously, she covered nan nationalist utilities and nan powerfulness grid for California Energy Markets. You tin besides find her activity astatine MIT’s Undark Magazine, The Verge, and Discover Magazine. She received an MA successful creation history from nan Courtauld Institute of Art successful London. Aria is based successful Austin, Texas.