Firefly Aerospace last week said it has raised about $300 million in the past eight months, adding that it is generating additional interest from investors following the startup’s successful tactical responsive space launch mission in September.
The latest Series C round is being led by existing investors that include the private equity firm AE Industrial Partners
, and new investors, including Mitsui & Co. Ltd.
“We have been successful at raising funds at an increased valuation in this challenging capital markets environment due to our focus on production and mission executions,” Bill Weber, Firefly’s CEO, said in a statement. “Following our most recent success with the groundbreaking launch of the VICTUS NOX mission by the U.S. Space Force, we have seen heightened interest from new investors.”
Firefly on Sept. 15 launched a Millennium Space Systems-built space domain awareness satellite aboard its Alpha launch vehicle for the Space Force’s VICTUS NOX mission. The mission demonstrated a launch-ready status within 24 hours of launch notice and then lifted the satellite within hours of the launch window opening. The satellite was operationally read within 37 hours after launch, 11 hours faster than the 48-hour goal. Millennium is a Boeing [BA] business unit.
In addition to its own rockets and related launch services, Firefly is developing the Blue Ghost lunar lander, and the Elytra family of orbital vehicles, capabilities it says make it an end-to-end space transportation company.