Firefly Aerospace soars over 30% in market debut to land at $8.5 billion valuation
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Firefly is the third space company to go public this year after Voyager Technologies and Karman Holdings.
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3 min read
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investment
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August 7, 2025
08:13 PM
CNBC
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In this articleFLY your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTFirefly’s CEO Jason Kim reacts during the company's IPO at the Nasdaq ite in New York City, U.S., August 7, 2025
Jeenah Moon | ReutersFirefly Aerospace jumped more than 34% in its Nasdaq debut on Thursday after pricing s above its expected range.The stock closed at $60.35, valuing the company at roughly $8.5 billion. s initially opened at $70 under the ticker symbol FLY
Space nology has gained momentum in recent years as companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX amass more funding and government contracts
Firefly is the third space company to go public this year after Voyager nologies and Karman Holdings.The rocket and lunar lander maker priced s late Wednesday at $45, above its expected range of $41 to $43, raising $868 million
Earlier this week, Firefly had hiked its range up from the $35 to $39 it initially expected.Firefly's customers have included a growing list of key defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, and the company recently received a $50 million investment from Northrop Grumman
Last month, Firefly also won a $177 million contract with NASA.Read more CNBC newsTrump's chip tariff declaration raises more questions than answeoftBank's Vision Fund posts best performance in 4 yearsApple and Trump detail $100 billion U.S. spending expansion, including $2.5 billion for an iPhone glass factoryOpenAI is giving ChatGPT to the government for $1"It's all execution," CEO Jason Kim told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday. "We're focused on rating up our alpha rockets because there's so much demand for the response of dedicated one-ton launches from national security, commercial, as well as hypersonic missile testing."Jason Kim, chief executive officer of Firefly Aerospace, center, during the company's initial public offering at the Nasdaq ite in New York, US, on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesEarlier this year, Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully touched down on the moon in a mission funded by NASA
Firefly is also widely known for its Alpha rocket and has said in its initial public offering filing that its backlog totaled $1.1 billion at the end of March.In its IPO filing, Firefly said revenue in the quarter jumped sixfold to $55.9 million from $8.3 million
However, the company reported a net loss of $60.1 million, up from $52.8 million in the year-ago period.Beyond just space, the IPO market has started to heat up this year after an ext dry spell due to high inflation and rising interest rates
Figma, Circle and CoreWeave have all debuted in 2025 and seen their stocks pop.Defense and aerospace private equity firm AE Industrial Partners owns a more than 41% stake in Firefly and controls the company, according to the spectus
Of Firefly's nine board members, five currently work at the firm
AE has $6.4 billion in assets under management, according to its website.Don’t miss these insights from CNBC Nvidia gets price target hike from Goldman Sachs ahead of earningsA bearish 'double top' pattern just formed in the Dow
What that meansThe charts show Tesla s could be on the verge of a big swing, Katie Stockton saysCaterpillar, Eaton reports show hit from tariffs, cast doubt on 2025′s hottest Wall Street tradeWATCH: Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim on IPOwatch now6:5706:57Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim on IPO debut, pathway to fitabilitySquawk Box
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