Portco news: Firefly Aerospace IPO

Firefly Aerospace just pulled off one of the biggest space IPOs in U.S. history.

After raising $868M on Nasdaq in August 2025, Firefly debuted with a $6.3B valuation and soared to nearly $10B as shares surged 56% on day one. The offering was fueled by growing defense demand, a $1.1B backlog, over 30 planned launches under contract, and a historic commercial Moon landing just months prior.

Firefly delivers end-to-end space infrastructure—launch vehicles (Alpha, Eclipse), lunar landers (Blue Ghost), and orbital transfer vehicles (Elytra)—for government and commercial clients. Its rapid-launch tech is already proven in U.S. Space Force missions, and its Blue Ghost mission made Firefly the first fully commercial operator to land on the Moon.

With vertically integrated manufacturing, proprietary Miranda/Vira engines, and scalable services across launch, lunar, and orbit, Firefly aims to become a core logistics layer in the $1.5T space economy. 

Some of Firefly’s major backers include AE Industrial Partners, which led an early investing round in the company. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman invested $50 million in the startup this May, and Firefly says it has collaborated with Lockheed Martin, L3Harris and NASA.

Republic Capital’s involvement in Firefly began in Q3 2021, with cumulative investment totaling $31,049,400. In the event of realized carry from this investment, 25% is contractually allocated to Republic Note holders after taking into account expenses and priority distributions.

We’re thrilled to have been part of their journey since their Series A, and we couldn’t be prouder of the team. From lunar landings to ringing the bell on Nasdaq, they’ve shown what determined execution looks like in one of the hardest industries on Earth (and beyond). We’re proud to be in their corner for what comes next. Onwards!