On the eve of the first launch, Firefly is revamping its board and could go public

As Firefly Aerospace nears the launch of its Alpha rocket, with a first launch attempt slated for mid-March from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the company’s chief executive looks to the future.

“The company is now at an inflection point where we’ve been in this hardcore mode of development for Alpha,” said Tom Markusic, Managing Director of Firefly, in an interview. “Our goals for the future are to move from a development company to an operating company. And of course we are also interested in the next phase of the company’s growth, which is to expand beyond launchers and put more and more emphasis on spacecraft.

To that end, the company sets out to aggressively raise new funding and shakes up its board of directors. Gone are the Ukrainian Max Polyakov, and there are two top leaders of the American government community. All of this comes as Firefly is expected to deploy its completed rocket to its launch site in California in two weeks and perform one or more hot tests. The company is planning a launch between March 15 and 22.

Fund raising

Firefly seeks to become an “end-to-end” space company that can both launch payloads into orbit and provide a spacecraft to deliver materials to the moon or elsewhere. To achieve these goals, of course, more capital will be needed.

When the company faced a cash crunch in 2016 – Firefly had to shut down briefly – a Ukrainian investor named Max Polyakov stepped in to provide funding of around $ 200 million. Markusic said about 10% of those funds remain and the company is now looking to raise $ 350 million. This will allow the development of a production line for Alpha, which can launch up to 1 ton into low earth orbit, and the development of its successor, Beta, as well as a tug-type spacecraft.

Markusic said Firefly has yet to make a decision on whether to seek additional funding from private investors or pursue public options. The company has been interested in several Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs.

“We haven’t made a final decision yet,” said Markusic. “We have options for private tours, and we certainly have a lot of interest from a few PSPCs. So we just assess the terms of the different offers and we will make that decision as a council.” He hopes the council will make a decision later this month.

Mix the table

Firefly also announced Wednesday morning that it had changed the makeup of its board, which now consists of Markusic, Deborah Lee James and Robert Cardillo. James, who will chair the board, has a long career in government, most notably as Secretary of the Air Force from 2013 to 2017. Cardillo was the sixth director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in office. from 2014 to 2019.

The two new board members bring national security to Firefly and are strong indications the company intends to provide launch services, and possibly more, to the US Department of Defense.

“These two new board members are clearly established individuals with a solid background in national security,” said Markusic. “They can give our government clients complete confidence that the business is controlled and run by people who have the interests of the United States of America in mind. They have held the highest positions you can find in these fields. “

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 shifts Ukrainian support for the company from a key decision-maker role to that of a shareholder. Markusic said Polyakov had the rights of a shareholder but that Firefly’s board of directors is now running the company. Concerns had previously been raised about Polyakov’s track record in a Snopes investigation, and having an all-American board of directors should bolster Firefly’s efforts to work with the defense community.

“I don’t want to stress any concerns or anything like that,” said Markusic, when asked about Polyakov’s departure from the board. “I just want to say that we are proactive in aligning the leadership of the company with our government clientele and having a board of directors that does it optimally.”