Astra, the US-based orbital launch services provider backed by aerospace manufacturer Airbus, agreed yesterday to a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Holicity set to value the combined company at $2.1bn.
Holicity floated on the Nasdaq Capital Market in a $275m initial public offering in August 2020 and Astra will take over its spot on the market and get access to $300m in capital held in trust.
The transaction will be supported by a $200m private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing led by funds and accounts managed by investment manager BlackRock.
Astra intends to provide satellite delivery and orbital launch services, focusing on smaller, more frequent launches and payloads of up to 150kg. It completed its first launch into space in December 2020 and has booked $150m in revenue from future launches.
The company was founded in 2017 and emerged from stealth in February 2020 with more than $100m in funding provided by Airbus subsidiary Airbus Ventures, Acme Capital, Advance, Canaan Partners, Innovation Endeavors and Marc Benioff.
Chris Kemp, founder, chairman and chief executive of Astra, said: “We are coming to market in an extraordinarily strong financial position.
“We have raised more than $500m from private investors, and we already have more than 50 launches on our manifest. In just the past year, we started producing and launching rockets and activated our first spaceport in Kodiak, Alaska.
“We carried out our first orbital launch attempt with Rocket 3.1 in September, and three months later we became the fastest privately funded company in US history to reach space and demonstrate a launch system capable of deploying satellites into low Earth orbit.”
Deutsche Bank Securities was lead financial adviser and capital markets adviser for Holicity while BofA Securities was lead placement agent on the PIPE, financial advisor and capital markets adviser, and Winston & Strawn was legal adviser to Holicity.
PJT Partners was sole financial advisor to Astra as well as a placement agent on the PIPE, while Ropes & Gray was its legal adviser.
