Firefly Aerospace
As Firefly Aerospace approaches the debut of its Alpha rocket, with a first launch effort expected from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in mid-March, the company’s CEO is looking to the future.
“The company is at a turning point where we were in this hardcore development mode for Alpha,” Firefly CEO Tom Markusic said in an interview. “Our goals going forward are to switch from a development company to an operating company. And of course we are also interested in the next growth phase of the company, namely expanding beyond launch vehicles and increasing emphasis on spacecraft.”
For this purpose, the company will aggressively raise new financing and shake up its board. Gone are Ukrainian Max Polyakov and two senior members of the US government. It’s all expected that Firefly will roll out its completed rocket to its launch site in California in two weeks and perform one or more fire tests. The company is planning a launch between March 15 and 22.
Fundraiser
Firefly aims to become an end-to-end spaceflight company that can send payloads into orbit, as well as a spacecraft to deliver material to the moon or elsewhere. Achieving these goals will, of course, require more capital.
When the company faced a cash crisis in 2016 – Firefly had to pause for a moment – a Ukrainian investor named Max Polyakov joined to finance about $ 200 million. Markusic said about 10 percent of the funds remain, and the company now wants to raise $ 350 million. This would allow the development of a production line for Alpha, which could launch up to 1 ton to a low-Earth orbit, and the development of its successor, Beta, as well as a tugboat-like spacecraft.
Markusic said Firefly has not yet made a decision to solicit additional financing from private investors or exercise public options. The company was interested in several specialty procurement companies, or SPACs.
“We have not yet made a final decision,” Markusic said. “We have options for private rounds, and we are definitely very interested in a few SPACs. We are actually just evaluating the terms of the various offers and we will come to that decision as a council.” He expects the board to make a decision later this month.
Move the board
Firefly also announced Wednesday morning that it has changed the composition of its board, which now consists of Markusic, Deborah Lee James, and Robert Cardillo. James, who will serve as chairman of the board, has a long career in government, including serving as secretary of the Air Force from 2013 to 2017. Cardillo was the sixth director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which served from 2014 to 2019.
Both new board members bring digs for national security to Firefly and are a strong indication that the company plans to provide launch services, and perhaps more, to the U.S. Department of Defense.
“These two new board members are clearly established individuals with a strong national security background,” Markusic said. “They can give our government customers the full confidence that the company is controlled and led by people who have the interests of the United States in mind. They held the highest positions you can find in these areas. “
Firefly Aerospace
Among those no longer on the board is Firefly’s financial savior, Polyakov, with dual Ukrainian-British citizenship. This is a significant change as it shifts the company’s Ukrainian support from a role as key decision maker to that of a shareholder. Markusic said that Polyakov has the rights of a shareholder, but that the management of Firefly now leads the company. Concern has been expressed earlier about Polyakov’s background in an investigation by Snopes, and having a U.S. board of directors should strengthen Firefly’s efforts to work with the defense community.
“I do not want to stress any concerns or anything like that,” Markusic said when asked about Polyakov’s departure. “I just want to say that we are proactive in adapting the company’s leadership to our customer base of government, and that we have a board that does this optimally.”