CEO: Roccor to grow, remain in Longmont after acquisition 

LONGMONT — Roccor LLC, a Longmont-based aerospace technology and small satellite maker, has been acquired by Redwire LLC, a newly formed, venture-backed aerospace portfolio company headquartered in Florida that’s been on a buying spree of late. 

Redwire, which launched this summer, has already acquired Littleton’s Deep Space Systems Inc., Boston-area firm Adcole Space LLC and Florida-based Made In Space Inc.

“They’re very much looking to roll up high-growth, niche companies in the new space economy,” Roccor CEO Chris Pearson told BizWest. “… Once we saw the plan and the degree of synergy with the other companies, it was a good long-term opportunity for us.”

Roccor, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Redwire, will remain headquartered in Longmont and plans to grow its team from roughly 80 to more than 100 by early next year.

The team plans to add positions in a variety of roles such as systems engineering, project management and mechanical engineering.

“This is a real hotbed of space activity,” Pearson said of the Front Range. “Longmont’s a great area because we’ve got good access to our customers such as Ball Aerospace and the growing [U.S. Department of Defense] presence in Colorado Springs. Redwire recognizes that we’re a little bit of a nucleus it can expand around.”

The acquisition deal, terms of which have not been disclosed, developed quickly after Redwire reached out to Roccor’s leadership in midsummer.

“We first started talking around June, and it got serious in July and August,” Pearson said.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Redwire leaders — after virus testing and following social distancing protocols — were able to travel to Colorado to meet with Roccor’s team several times before the deal closed. 

“We’ve been doubling every year for the past four or five years … and it can become difficult [from a capital perspective] with all the ebbs and flows on the cash side,” Pearson said.

While joining forces with Redwire does provide Roccor with access to new capital, financial stability and synergies, it’s going to take some time for staff to get adjusted, Pearson said.

“Roccor is completely bootstrapped, employee-owned company,” he said. “So going from that to a more corporate identity is going to be a bit of a shift.”

Pearson added: “It’s a big transition, so doing it in an open way will leave us much more grounded on the other side so we can move forward and get on with it.”

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