Acquired · Virgin Galactic · Overview
Virgin Galactic
Sponsor-and-celebrity capital chasing a long-payoff sector.
Major events · 2004–2019
- 2004Founding
Virgin Galactic is formed
Virgin licenses the SpaceShipOne approach and sets out to commercialize suborbital passenger flight.
Acquired: Virgin Galactic (November 2020)
- 2012Acquired co.
Virgin takes full control of The Spaceship Company
The company internalizes spacecraft production and core technology rather than relying on a split ownership structure.
Acquired: Virgin Galactic (November 2020)
- 2014Crisis
VSS Enterprise breaks apart
A test-flight accident kills co-pilot Michael Alsbury and forces a redesign of process and safeguards.
Acquired: Virgin Galactic (November 2020)
- 2018Product
VSS Unity reaches the U.S. space threshold
The test flight reaches 82.7 km, demonstrating the architecture after fourteen years of development.
Acquired: Virgin Galactic (November 2020)
- 2019IPO
Virgin Galactic completes its SPAC merger
The transaction supplies capital and gives public investors a rare pure-play exposure to commercial human spaceflight.
Acquired: Virgin Galactic (November 2020)
Origin
Turn experimental reusable spacecraft into a premium consumer experience and use private demand to finance a new category of human spaceflight.
Virgin Galactic paired the Virgin brand and Branson's capital network with Burt Rutan's air-launch architecture. The episode follows the company through technical setbacks, vertical integration, sovereign investment, and a SPAC transaction that financed a still-pre-revenue operating plan.
Key facts
Flight reservations
640
Cash into transaction
$774M
LTM operating loss
$173M
Episodes · 1 covering this company