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Firefly Aerospace has raised a massive late-stage funding round as it prepares for the launch of its lunar lander later this year and the first mission of its Elytra spacecraft next year.
The $175 million Series D, which put Firefly’s valuation at more than $2 billion, appears to have closed in less than two months in a show of confidence in the company’s new CEO — aviation and aerospace executive Jason Kim, who was appointed to the position on the 1st of October. He previously headed Boeing’s satellite maker Millennium Space Systems.
Firefly also plans to use some of the new capital to move to full production of its Alpha rocket and accelerate development of the medium launch vehicle it is co-developing with Northrop Grumman. Firefly has launched Alpha five times since September 2021, although only three have successfully placed payloads into orbit. The company achieved a new record with the third Alpha mission in September 2023; The mission, named Victus Nox, demonstrated rapid launch capabilities, with Firefly launching its Alpha rocket just 27 hours after receiving the go-ahead from the US Space Force. (The company has been selected for a second “rapid response” mission to be launched next year.)
The new capital will help Firefly meet the rest of the missions listed in the statement, which include an agreement with L3Harris for up to 20 launches starting in 2027, and one with Lockheed Martin for 15 committed launches through 2029.
The latest raise was led by a new investor, RPM Ventures, with participation from existing investors and additional new investors GiantLeap Capital and Human Element. This later-stage deal appears to be somewhat of an exception for RPM, which says on its website that about 75% of its investments are in early-stage companies.
The round stands out as one of the few large late-stage deals in the space sector this year, which has been largely dominated by seed and Series A activity, according to a recent report from UK-based Seraphim Space. This is in stark contrast to the 2019-2021 period, during which more than half of total venture funding was allocated to Series D+ companies.
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