WASHINGTON — Ursa Major, a Colorado-based defense startup specializing in hypersonics and solid rocket motors, today announced plans to take the company public next year in a $2.3 billion deal.
The agreement involves a merger with the publicly traded Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company backed by Inflection Point Asset Management, which works to take companies public. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, according to a news release.
“For eleven years, Ursa Major has invested in the hard work behind that outcome: propulsion, manufacturing, testing, qualification and flight. This transaction will help us turn that foundation into the production capacity our customers need,” Ursa Major CEO Chris Spagnoletti said in a statement. “Becoming a public company aligns with our high standard of transparency and accountability, strengthening our ability to deliver responsibly for the warfighter over the long term.”
Since its founding in 2015, Ursa Major has raised more than $380 million in private capital while also garnering investment from the Defense Department to develop technology for solid rocket motors, space systems and hypersonics. The company currently employs more than 360 people across six facilities, according to the release.
Last month, the company announced a $10 million award from the US Navy to advance its MK 104 solid rocket motor through critical design review and static fire. Ursa Major also conducted its first flight of its Draper liquid rocket engine this year as part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator effort.
In February, Ursa Major unveiled a new hypersonic missile system named HAVOC that the company plans to mostly manufacture in-house and could be built for around $3 million per unit, Spagnoletti told Breaking Defense then.