Firefly Aerospace is preparing to launch its orbital ambitions into the public markets. The Texas-based aerospace company, fresh off a year marked by a string of high-profile milestones — including a groundbreaking commercial moon landing — has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) expected later this year.

Blue Ghost Mission 3 Credit: Firefly Aerospace
In its S-1 registration document submitted Friday, Firefly offered a detailed glimpse into its financial position and future strategy. While the company has yet to disclose the number of shares it plans to offer or a price range — meaning the IPO valuation remains undetermined — it revealed substantial activity and momentum within its growing business.
As of March 31, Firefly held $176.9 million in cash and cash equivalents. Despite posting operating losses and negative cash flows, the company stated that its available funds are sufficient to support operations for at least the next 12 months. However, Firefly does carry significant debt — approximately $173.6 million — including a $136.1 million term loan with a steep 13.87% interest rate. Proceeds from the IPO will help repay a portion of this debt.
Firefly’s revenue surged to $55.8 million in the first quarter of 2025 — a dramatic increase from just $8.3 million during the same period last year. Most of that revenue, nearly $50 million, stemmed from its “spacecraft solutions” division, primarily its Blue Ghost lunar lander missions. The remaining $5 million came from its launch services. However, hardware-intensive projects also bring heavy costs: Firefly reported $53 million in cost of sales, leaving a slim gross profit of $2.2 million.
For the full fiscal year 2024, the company posted a net loss of $231.1 million, up from $135.5 million in 2023. Its losses continued into Q1 2025, with a reported net deficit of $60.1 million. Still, Firefly is positioning itself as a growth-driven company with a packed pipeline of promising ventures and an expanding customer base.
Notably, the company has secured a significant partnership with Northrop Grumman to co-develop Eclipse, a next-generation reusable launch vehicle. It also signed a major agreement with Lockheed Martin for up to 25 launches and is preparing to debut Elytra, a new spacecraft line geared toward in-space transportation services.
As of March 31, Firefly reported a contract backlog totaling approximately $1.1 billion — nearly double the $560 million backlog it had just a year earlier. The increase is largely attributed to three multi-launch deals for its small satellite launcher Alpha and an additional lunar payload delivery contract for the Blue Ghost program.
The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol $FLY, and intends to take advantage of its status as a “controlled company.” This designation allows it to adopt certain Nasdaq corporate governance exemptions, enabling AE Industrial Partners — the private equity firm that acquired a controlling stake in Firefly in 2022 — to maintain significant influence over company decisions post-IPO.
Firefly’s IPO arrives during a period of relative quiet in the space industry’s public markets, following a flurry of space companies that went public via SPACs in 2021–2022, many of which have since underperformed. Its public debut, along with that of Voyager Space (which filed its own IPO paperwork last month), may signal renewed investor confidence and liquidity for the commercial space sector.
If successful, Firefly’s transition to a publicly traded company could mark a pivotal chapter in its mission to expand access to low Earth orbit, the Moon, and beyond.
By Azhar
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