American space company Firefly Aerospace is preparing for an IPO, having filed an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early July. The listing is planned for later this year.

• The company aims to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol $FLY.
• So far, it is not yet known how many shares will be offered or what amount of capital Firefly hopes to raise.
• Firefly was last valued at over $2 billion during a $175 million funding round in 2024.
• Part of the proceeds from the IPO will go toward repaying debts. The company currently has about $173.6 million in liabilities, including a $136.1 million term loan with an interest rate of 13.87% per annum.
• Meanwhile, as of the filing date, Firefly reported $176.9 million in cash and cash equivalents. Despite its loss-making operations, the company says this is enough to meet its liquidity needs for at least the next 12 months.

As of March 31, Firefly reported $55.8 million in revenue — a significant jump from $8.3 million for the same period in 2024. Of that, around $50 million came from «space solutions,» primarily Blue Ghost’s lunar missions, while about $5 million came from rocket launches.

In 2024, Firefly posted a net loss of $231.1 million, widening from a $135.5 million loss in 2023. For the first quarter of 2025 alone, the company reported a loss of $60.1 million.

Despite these losses, Firefly promises investors growth, pointing to several major initiatives. These include a partnership with defense giant Northrop Grumman to develop the Eclipse reusable launch vehicle, a contract for up to 25 launches with Lockheed Martin, and preparations for the first commercial flight of Elytra — a line of spacecraft designed for in-orbit transportation.

As of March 31, Firefly had an order backlog of approximately $1.1 billion, nearly double the $560 million backlog reported a year earlier. This increase was driven by three multi-launch agreements for the Alpha rocket and a new contract for monthly deliveries under the Blue Ghost program.

About Firefly Aerospace and Ukraine

Firefly Space Systems was originally founded in 2014 but filed for bankruptcy in 2017. It was acquired that same year by Ukrainian entrepreneur Max Polyakov, who rebranded the company as Firefly Aerospace.

According to Polyakov, he has invested more than $200 million of his own funds into the business, with Firefly raising a total of about $750 million in investments between 2021 and 2024.

In November 2021, the US Committee on Foreign Investment asked Polyakov to sell his stake. Reports at the time linked this to concerns over Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which began in 2014 and escalated toward a full-scale invasion. Firefly Aerospace has already operated a major R&D facility in Dnipro.

US officials feared Russia could gain access to sensitive space technology. According to Polyakov, he transferred his 58% stake to the company’s management for $1. Sources cited by Scroll.media suggest Polyakov may have retained a small stake, but due to the sensitivity of the matter, he no longer associates himself with Firefly Aerospace’s business.