The British rocket company Skyrora has a new investor: international IT and space-technology entrepreneur Max Polyakov. Polyakov is best known as the founder of Firefly Aerospace, an American company that recently went public and is now valued at $8 billion USD. Let’s look at what prospects this investment opens for Skyrora and for the UK space sector more broadly.
Who is Max Polyakov?
Max Polyakov began investing in the space sector more than 10 years ago, founding the Noosphere Ventures Partners investment fund in the United States. His company, EOS Data Analytics, is a leader in the global commercial satellite-imagery analytics market, with a focus on agromonitoring. One of the company’s major milestones was the 2023 launch of its own EOS SAT-1 satellite, which was built entirely by companies within the Noosphere ecosystem. Despite operating on a global scale, however, Polyakov is a Ukrainian entrepreneur and is actively involved with helping his country resist Russian aggression.
Firefly Aerospace: from bankruptcy to successful IPO
In 2017, the American company Firefly Systems Inc. was on the verge of shutting down. Its assets were purchased by Max Polyakov, who invested, by various estimates, over $200 million USD in the company. Under Polyakov’s leadership, the company underwent a complete reorganisation, a technology overhaul, and, ultimately, a rebranding, becoming Firefly Aerospace. A new chapter thus began, including contracts from NASA and other government agencies, successful engine tests, and the development of the Blue Ghost lunar lander, which became famous in 2025 thanks to its successful mission to the Moon. Firefly eventually listed its shares on NASDAQ and raised $868 million from the IPO in its initial public offering.
Why Skyrora?
Skyrora is a British new-space company headquartered in Glasgow with locations across Europe. The company recently received a licence to launch its Skylark L rocket from UK territory, becoming the first British manufacturer licensed to launch a commercial launch vehicle. The licence received wide acclaim, since it marked a key milestone in implementing the UK’s National Space Strategy and strengthened the country’s ability to gain independent access to space. It had originally been planned to launch from the SaxaVord site in the Shetland Islands, but, according to media reports, the launch pad’s slots are fully booked, meaning that Skyrora will have to seek alternatives.
Skyrora has positioned itself as both a technology company, using additive manufacturing and 3D printing, and an ecologically minded one, with its Ecosene rocket fuel, and seeks to change life on Earth through efforts in space. This mission aligns with Polyakov’s core vision that space and space technologies must serve the study of our planet and the well-being of humanity and Earth.
New investments and new prospects for Skyrora
Skyrora has not disclosed the amount invested by Max Polyakov, who has effectively become the new Ukrainian owner of the Scottish space-rocket firm. What is known, however, is that the funding will go toward continued research, design, and testing to further the development of its commercial launch programme. Skyrora does not plan to change its strategy: the company will continue scaling up to make launches regular. Indeed, the company’s ambition is to become the leading launch services provider in the UK. As Skyrora emphasised after the licence was granted: “With it, Skyrora can offer sovereign launch services tailored to government and commercial needs, strengthening Britain’s ability to access space independently.” One can predict that this new funding, together with Max Polyakov’s experience in the space sector, will help to realise this ambitious goal.
The space-technology sector continues to be one of the fastest-growing and most attractive for investment. Strengthening national launch capabilities and securing regular launches will create a range of multiplier effects across the entire UK space sector, including increased demand for skilled aerospace and related professionals, a rise in the number of British satellite missions, and enhanced national security autonomy.
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