There’s been another update in the Astra ($ASTR) financing saga.
Amid the launcher’s struggle to stay afloat facing dwindling cash reserves and an unfriendly public market, Astra secured an additional $2.7M from investors. The company will still need to secure long-term financing.
The story so far: Astra ventured into the public markets during the SPAC boom of 2021 at a valuation of $2.1B. For a while now, though, the company has been fighting a battle to avoid going the way of Virgin Orbit into bankruptcy. Measures the company has taken included a reverse stock split in September as well as mass layoffs as it shifted focus from rocket to spacecraft development.
Late last month, Astra reported that it had defaulted on a debt agreement by failing to keep $15M in cash reserves. The company has been struggling to raise the long-term financing its investors require.
What now? The $2.7M in net proceeds comes from a deal that extends interim financing secured from JMCM Holdings LLC and Sherpa Ventures Fund II earlier this month. Still no word on a longer-term solution.
About that go-private offer…Cofounders Chris Kemp and Adam London submitted an offer to the company’s board on Nov. 8 that would take Astra private at a ~$30M value, or $1.50 per share. At the time of the offer, that was about double the stock value. Now, though, the per-share price has gone up, and as of EOD Monday is sitting at $1.50 on the dot. The board hasn’t given an update on the status of that offer.
