The United Kingdom’s ambitions to become a leading spacefaring nation got a major boost with a new strategic investment by Ukrainian businessman Max Polyakov in Scotland-based Skyrora. The move connects a rising European launch provider with an investor whose past successes have helped shape the modern commercial space market.
Max Polyakov: international entrepreneur in IT and space technologies
Max Polyakov is a Ukrainian-born international entrepreneur, economist, and founder of the investment fund Noosphere Ventures (USA). Through this fund, he has built a vertically integrated ecosystem of high-tech companies, including EOS Data Analytics, Firefly Aerospace, Dragonfly Aerospace, and SETS. Under his leadership, the Noosphere group has developed end-to-end capabilities, from satellite and launch vehicle production to Earth observation data analytics.
Max Polyakov. Credit: Noosphere Ventures
Polyakov’s approach combines patient capital, technical expertise, and sustainability. He has already confidently proved his ability to identify underdeveloped space ventures and scale them into global competitors.
Lessons from Firefly Aerospace
A prime example is Firefly Aerospace, a US-based company that Maxym Polyakov rescued in 2017, when it faced bankruptcy. He subsequently invested over $200 million, reorganised the team, and brought in Ukrainian technologies. Later, in 2021, Firefly Aerospace carried out the maiden launch of its Alpha rocket, followed in 2023 by the successful deployment of the EOS SAT-1 satellite by EOS Data Analytics.
2025 was a landmark year for Firefly: the company not only landed its Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon under NASA’s CLPS program, but it also completed a highly successful IPO on NASDAQ, raising over $850 million. The listing was widely seen as proof that long-term, strategic investment can succeed in the space sector. Firefly’s collaboration with Northrop Grumman on the Eclipse medium-lift rocket cemented its place among the most dynamic private launch providers in the United States.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Skyrora: a new chapter in the UK space industry
Skyrora, headquartered in Glasgow with facilities across Europe, designs, manufactures, and deploys rockets that provide responsive access to orbit for the rapidly growing small satellite market. Supported by an experienced engineering team, the company is shaping the UK’s new launch industry with a focus on sustainable and innovative technology.
In August 2025, Skyrora achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first UK-based rocket manufacturer to receive an official launch licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The licence authorises the launch of the Skylark L, a suborbital vehicle designed to validate technologies for the company’s forthcoming Skyrora XL orbital rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetlands. This milestone came after years of engine tests and suborbital missions, including a 2022 launch from Iceland that proved Skyrora’s 3D-printed hybrid engine running on cleaner, more efficient fuel.
Skyrora’s Skylark L rocket. Credit: Skyrora
Skyrora CEO Volodymyr Levykin described the licence as “a crucial step toward enabling sovereign launch capabilities for the UK.” Additionally, the milestone aligns with the National Space Strategy’s vision of transforming Britain into a global hub for satellite launches, research, and data services. Scottish Government hailed the move as a “landmark moment” for the nation’s growing space economy.
Skyrora’s manufacturing and engine-testing complex in Cumbernauld has become one of the largest privately owned rocket development facilities in Europe. Supported by grants from the European Space Agency’s Boost! Programme and the UK Space Agency’s LaunchUK initiative, the company is preparing for its first orbital launch attempt, which is set to restore Britain’s independent launch capability for the first time since the Black Arrow programme of the 1970s.
Toward the UK’s sovereign launch capability
Skyrora’s new funding round, which includes an investment by Max Polyakov, significantly strengthens its role in Britain’s drive for sovereign access to space. The company has already attracted around £58 million in private funding, reflecting confidence in its technology and mission.
Until recently, the UK relied on foreign launch providers to place its satellites in orbit. The Civil Aviation Authority’s decision to grant Skyrora a launch licence thus marks the beginning of a new era for the UK in space.
For Polyakov, the move continues a proven strategy of turning high-potential aerospace ventures into global competitors. Industry observers note that his entry into Skyrora brings more than capital: it also brings substantial strategic expertise in navigating the long and complex journey from prototype to commercial operations.
Sustainability and innovation at the core
Beyond its engineering achievements, Skyrora stands out for its focus on sustainability. The company has developed Ecosene, an RP-1 equivalent fuel produced from unrecyclable plastic waste. This fuel offers a cleaner-burning, circular-economy solution to rocket propulsion. Moreover, most of its suppliers are sourced locally to minimise transportation emissions. Meanwhile, Skyrora employees participate in STEM outreach programmes across Scotland, providing a model of responsible space enterprise that echoes Max Polyakov’s own philosophy of “space as a driver of sustainability on Earth.”
Polyakov has often argued that space technology should help address terrestrial challenges such as climate change and resource management. According to Polyakov, “We are no longer going to space just for the achievement — we are going there to seek climate solutions.” His belief that space innovation must serve life on Earth aligns perfectly with Skyrora’s mission.
Strengthening Europe’s position in space
The timing of Polyakov’s investment is significant. The UK space industry, already among the largest in Europe, is expanding in the areas of manufacturing, data analytics, and downstream applications. Launch capability, however, has remained the missing link. With Skyrora’s infrastructure in Scotland and Noosphere’s ecosystem consisting of complementary companies across Europe and the US, that gap is beginning to close.
For the Ukrainian entrepreneur behind Firefly Aerospace and EOS Data Analytics, this partnership represents more than an investment: it is the continuation of a strategy to build a transnational, vertically integrated space network connecting Ukraine, the UK, and the United States.
Space as the next growth frontier
As space enters what Polyakov calls its “internet moment,” launch providers like Skyrora are building the infrastructure for the next technological revolution. Just as early network builders enabled today’s digital economy, rocket companies are constructing the orbital highways for new generations of climate monitoring, connectivity, and data services.
With Max Polyakov’s experience and backing, Skyrora is set to become a leader in Europe’s space sector. For Polyakov himself, space is not just about exploration: it is a key to prosperity on Earth. Skyrora thus gains both an investor with financial depth and a visionary with a proven record of transforming ideas into orbital success.
