Firefly Aerospace
As Firefly Aerospace nears the debut of its Alpha missile, with a first launch attempt expected from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in mid-March, the company’s CEO is looking ahead to the future.
“The company is now at a tipping point where we’ve been in this hardcore development mode for Alpha,” said Tom Markusic, Firefly CEO, in an interview. “Our goals for the future are to transition from a development company to an operating company. And of course we are also interested in the next phase of growth of the company, which is to move beyond launch vehicles and put more emphasis on spacecraft.”
To this end, the company is aggressively seeking to raise new funds and is shaking up its board of directors. Ukrainian Max Polyakov has disappeared, and there are two high-ranking members of the US government community. All of this is because the Firefly is expected to roll its completed missile to its launch site in California within two weeks and conduct one or more hotfire tests. The company expects a launch between March 15 and 22.
Fundraising
Firefly aims to become an “end-to-end” space company that can launch payloads into orbit as well as deliver a spacecraft to deliver materials to the moon or elsewhere. Of course, more capital is needed to achieve these goals.
When the company faced a money crisis in 2016 – Firefly had to close for a while – a Ukrainian investor named Max Polyakov stepped in to provide approximately $ 200 million in funding. Markusic said about 10 percent of those funds are left, and the company is now seeking to raise $ 350 million. This allows for the further development of a production line for Alpha, capable of launching up to 1 ton in low Earth orbit, and the development of its successor, Beta, as well as a tug-like spacecraft.
Markusic said Firefly has not yet made a decision on whether or not to seek additional funding from private investors or pursue public options. The company has had interest from several specialty acquisition companies, or SPACs.
“We have not made a final decision yet,” said Markusic. “We have options for private rounds, and we certainly have a lot of interest from a few SPACs. So we’re really just evaluating the terms of the different offers and we’ll come to that decision as the board.” He expects the board to make a decision later this month.
Shake the plate
Firefly also announced on Wednesday morning that it has changed the composition of its board of directors, which now consists of Markusic, Deborah Lee James and Robert Cardillo. James, who will serve as Chairman of the Board, has a long government career, including serving as Secretary of the Air Force from 2013 to 2017. Cardillo was the sixth director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, serving from 2014 to 2019.
Both new board members bring national security to Firefly and are strong indications that the company plans to provide launch services, and perhaps more, to the United States Department of Defense.
“These two new board members are clearly established individuals with a strong national security background,” said Markusic. “They can give our government clients complete confidence that the company is controlled and run by people who have the interests of the United States of America in mind. They have held the highest positions found in these areas.”
Firefly Aerospace
Among those no longer on the board is Firefly’s financial savior, Polyakov, who has dual Ukrainian-British citizenship. This is a substantial change as it moves the company’s Ukrainian financier from a key decision maker role to that of a shareholder. Markusic said that Polyakov has the rights of a shareholder, but Firefly’s board now heads the company. Concerns had previously been raised about Polyakov’s background in a Snopes investigation, and having an all-US board of directors should bolster Firefly’s efforts to partner with the defense community.
“I don’t want to emphasize any concerns or anything like that,” Markusic said when asked about Polyakov’s departure from the board. “I just want to say that we are proactive in aligning the company’s leadership with our government’s customer base, and that we have a board that does it optimally.”