Astra

San Francisco-based Market Street Partners handles Astra space launch company as it merges with Holicity SPAC to become a publicly traded company. The IPO is valued at $2.1B.

Astra has launched more than 50 rockets since starting up in 2016. Its customers include NASA and the Dept. of Defense.

CEO & founder Chris Kemp said the IPO takes Astra a step closer to its mission of “improving life on Earth from space by fully funding our plan to provide daily access to low Earth orbit from anywhere on the planet.”

Holicity is the investment vehicle of cell phone industry pioneer Craig McCaw. He sold McCall Cellular to AT&T in 1994 for $11.6B. It was renamed AT&T Wireless.

McCaw went on to form Nextel, which merged with Sprint in a 2006 via a deal pegged at $6.5B.

“Astra’s space platform will further improve our communications, help us to protect our planet and unleash entrepreneurs to launch a new generation of services to enhance our lives,” said McCaw, who will take a seat the company’s board.

Astra is the first space launch company to list on the NASDAQ.

Carolyn Bass handles the investment community for Astra. She co-founded Market Street Partners with fellow Morgen-Walke alum JoAnn Horne.

Todd Wolfenbarger, president of Salt Lake City’s The Summit Group, works the media for Holicity.