Lunar Outpost is one of two companies chosen to supply the wheels for the crews expected to eventually set up infrastructure and a semi-permanent presence on the moon. The company’s rover, called Pegasus, can operate autonomously by teleoperation or with people on board.

The other company awarded a contract for what NASA calls light terrain vehicles is Astrolab, based in California. Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, will provide landers to deliver the rovers to an area near the moon’s south pole.

“We’ve spent the better part of the past decade engineering advanced mobility solutions designed for the realities of operating and building on the lunar surface,” Justin Cyrus, Lunar Outpost CEO and founder, said in a statement.

Pegasus is built to withstand the moon’s harshest environments, Cyrus said. The vehicle has advanced thermal management systems, enabling it to operate for prolonged periods through extreme temperature swings.

Cyrus, a Colorado School of Mines alumnus, said Pegasus leverages technological advancements and lessons learned from another Lunar Outpost rover, MAPP, or Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform. MAPP collected data during its journey to the moon and on the lunar surface in 2025.

“Pegasus gives astronauts the range, reliability and flexibility needed to thrive in new terrain as we identify and prepare the sites that will become the first permanent lunar outpost,” Cyrus said.

The company has a test facility in Rye, in south-central Colorado.

Lunar Outpost led the development of Pegasus in partnership with General Motors, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Leidos.

The goal is to have the rovers in place before astronauts are expected to land on the moon in early 2028 as part of NASA’s Artemis program. Four astronauts flew around the moon on the Artemis II mission in April, venturing 248,655 miles from Earth and farther into space than any humans have.

The astronauts flew in a spacecraft designed and engineered at Lockheed Martin in Jefferson County. The launch vehicle that propelled the Orion spacecraft was designed and built by United Launch Alliance in Centennial in partnership with Boeing.

NASA’s plan is to establish a base on the moon starting in 2029, achieving a semi-permanent crew presence by 2032.

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Xcimer Energy is adding 16,000 square feet of office space at 4880 Havana St. effective June 1. The company has a 74,000-square-foot headquarters and laser facility at 10325 E. 47th Ave.

The company that started in Silicon Valley in 2022 moved to Colorado in 2024. Plans are to double the current workforce of approximately 150 over the next year.

Xcimer has developed what the company says is the largest privately owned laser system in the world with the goal of building a pilot fusion power plant in 2035.

“Fusion is the last and best energy source that humanity is ever going to develop. There’s nothing on the horizon after fusion,” Alexander Valys, Xcimer co-founder, president and chief technology officer said in an interview with The Denver Post.

Fusion is what powers the stars and produced all the elements around us, Valys said.

Fusion is the opposite of fission, which uses heavy elements such as uranium and plutonium and splits atoms into two or more parts, unleashing energy. Fission is used in nuclear power plants to produce electricity.

Fusion energy uses light elements, such as hydrogen, and extreme heat to make nuclei collide and fuse, producing a single, heavier atom and massive energy.

Fusion generates low-level, short-lived radioactive waste, not the high-level, long-lasting waste that fission does, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Scientists around the world have been working for decades on fusion, which requires overcoming particles’ natural repulsion to combining. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made history in 2022 when scientists for the first time achieved fusion “ignition” in a lab setting, creating more energy from the reaction than the energy used to start the process.

Different approaches are used to try to achieve fusion, but the only time more energy has been produced than energy used was at Livermore using lasers, Valys said. However, a challenge to using lasers to ignite the reaction is the expense.

“If you tried to take the laser technology (at Livermore) that was used to demonstrate that result,” Valys said, “you would need to spend something like $10 billion to build an equivalent laser that’s capable of running a power plant.”

Xcimer is developing a different laser technology that is an order of magnitude cheaper than the conventional technology, Valys said. If successful, the company would be able to build a commercially viable power plant.

The laser systems Xcimer is developing use a mixture of gases rather than lenses and optics to generate and focus light onto a small fuel capsule that triggers a reaction. Valys said the technology has been used for decades in the semiconductor industry.

“We’re talking about building the laser at a much larger scale than they’re used industrially. You need probably tens, hundreds of thousands of times more energy for fusion than you use for making chips,” he said.

Xcimer has partnered with a number of federal laboratories, including Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The company has received funds from the Department of Energy and investors.

Valys said the company moved to Colorado because of the area’s engineering, aerospace and other industrial talent and proximity to national labs. “That’s not what you find in Silicon Valley. You find great people. There’s a lot of software and other stuff, but not deep tech.”

Colorado is known for its work in lasers because of programs at Colorado State and in the “Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins triangle,” Valys said.

“One reason we’re really excited about Colorado is Colorado has the potential to be the center of commercial laser fusion for the U.S. because of all those advantages, because of the existing programs, the existing workforce, and of course, we hope, companies like us.”

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LEAP Space, currently based in Lafayette, received $8 million in state tax credits on Thursday as it ramps up the manufacturing of its cutting-edge rocket engines in Colorado.

The Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits, approved by the Colorado Economic Development Commission, are conditioned on the company creating up to 460 new jobs over the next eight years.

The jobs will pay an average annual wage of $149,960, which is 153% of the average annual wage in Boulder County. Engineering, executive, manufacturing, operations, strategy, and finance positions are on the launch pad.

Companies must consider other states to apply for state tax incentives, and Project Onshore is also weighing relocating to Texas or New Mexico.

OEDIT assigns code names to protect the anonymity of companies seeking incentives, and LEAP Space was given the name Project Onshore.

But LEAP Space co-founder and President Ryan Rollon didn’t try to hide his identity during the meeting.

“We are growing very rapidly and excited about the opportunity to grow in Colorado. We appreciate your confidence in our vision,” Rollon told commissioners via a Zoom call.

Rollon received his training at Purdue before moving to Colorado, where he launched Upshot Ventures in an engineering and design office in the Berkeley neighborhood in northwest Denver.

Upshot developed the OPTIMUS turbomachinery system for small satellite rocket engines.

Using 3D printing technology and proprietary metallurgy and alloy formulations, OPTIMUS shrunk down the number of parts needed for small satellite rocket engines.

In the case of the Bighorn launch vehicle, LEAP Space claims to have achieved a 90% reduction in the number of parts required.

Fewer parts mean a smaller chance for catastrophic failures on any given part, fewer joints and seams that can burst under pressure and less weight.

LEAP Space also has tighter control of its supply chain and can rapidly improve its designs after testing, a big plus when it comes to perfecting rockets for commercial use.

One of the company’s mottos: “Complexity is the enemy of speed.”

Beyond the direct jobs it will create, LEAP Space estimates it will contribute to more than 500 indirect jobs, spend $70 million on local contracts, and generate $300 million in economic benefits.

The Colorado Venture Capital Authority is backing LEAP Space, which has also participated in the Colorado APEX Accelerator, which helps startups navigate the world of government and defense contracting.

The commission also approved a $2.5 million award for Project Cobra, a precision electronics company that is looking to create 154 jobs in Pueblo County.

Those jobs, focused on pyrotechnics and “energetic” products, will pay an average annual wage of $57,169, which is just above the county average. The company behind Project Cobra has 867 employees, none of whom are in Colorado.

A third aerospace supplier, Project Bold, received approval for $1.73 million in incentives tied to the creation of 133 jobs in El Paso County.

The Colorado company is considering investing $45 million across three phases in a new 110,000-square-foot facility to produce custom parts, sheet metal and assemblies for aerospace and industrial customers.

The jobs will pay an average annual wage of $73,033. Project Bold, which currently has 70 employees in the state, is also looking at expanding in Ohio.

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Danish company Multicut is an advanced manufacturer in the space, energy and defense sectors. The company has announced plans to locate at the Forge Campus, a center for advanced manufacturing and technology businesses in Loveland.

Ohio-based SelectTech Services Corp. selected El Paso County as the location to expand its defense-related business.

Multicut will produce parts for the U.S. defense industry at its manufacturing site in Loveland. The company is expected to create 82 jobs, including positions for engineers and operators in machining, cutting and related manufacturing tasks.

Multicut’s current customer base includes Lockheed Martin, Planet Labs, Raytheon and Vestas.

“Multicut’s decision to expand in Colorado shows how our state’s strong international relationships and terrific business environment create good-paying jobs in Loveland and support the growth of Colorado’s defense industry,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Wednesday.

The company has 220 employees. Multicut’s innovative approach to precision manufacturing will benefit the Colorado and U.S. space, defense and energy sectors, said Eve Lieberman, executive director of Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, or OEDIT.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $1.03 million in performance-based tax credits for the company over eight years. The incentives are contingent upon Multicut meeting net new job creation and salary requirements.

SelectTech Services Corp., headquartered in Centerville, Ohio, provides technical support services to the Department of Defense and commercial clients. The company said it chose El Paso County to locate for its proximity to government clients, including the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, and original equipment manufacturers in the aerospace industry.

The company is expected to create 150 net jobs at its new site. Positions will include, engineers, technicians, buyers, managers, planners and technical writers.

“El Paso County stood out to us as the right place to grow our small business because it’s a community that prioritizes its people, long-term partnerships and responsible growth over rapid scale,” said Heather Fattah, SelectTech president and CEO.

The state Economic Development Commission approved up to $1.9 million in performance-based tax credits over eight years, contingent on the company meeting new job creation and salary requirements.

“SelectTech’s expansion reflects the intentional work happening across our region and is a clear signal that El Paso County continues to lead aerospace and defense growth at a national level,” Bonnie Goff, vice president of economic development for the Colorado Springs Chamber & Economic Development Corporation, said in a statement.

Colorado’s aerospace industry is the country’s second-largest, behind only California. The state has the most aerospace employees per capita in the nation. Approximately 2,000 aerospace businesses employ 55,000 people directly and another 184,000 indirectly, according to OEDIT. 

Nearly $23 billion in federal contracts went to Colorado aerospace and defense companies from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, an OEDIT analysis found.

Multicut considered California and Arizona for expansion, while SelectTech looked at expanding in Ohio.

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Last week, with the year anniversary on Thursday of what Trump dubbed “Liberation Day,” events were held to discuss the tariffs’ impact on the Colorado economy.

Gov. Jared Polis held a roundtable with a handful of small-business owners, manufacturers and industry leaders, alongside the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

“It’s long been clear: Tariffs are a tax increase that raises costs, creates uncertainty, and makes it harder to grow and hire talent. While the courts have taken important steps to stop these unlawful policies, businesses are still dealing with the fallout,” Polis said.

Also, on a news call Wednesday, state fiscal officers, including Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young, called the tariffs’ impact on communities nationwide “devastating.”

“Trump’s tariffs are a self-inflicted crisis that represents economic devastation, not liberation for working families and businesses. Businesses need predictability to grow, but what they’re getting instead is tariff whiplash,” Young said.

“Policies are announced and they’re changed. They’re reversed, they’re escalated with little warning. That creates chaos for business owners trying to plan investments, hire staff or set prices,” Young said.

Not everyone, of course, is opposed to the tariffs.

The Steel Manufacturers Association, the largest steel association in America, praised the Trump administration for its recent decision to “strengthen tariffs” on imported steel, aluminum and copper.

“The Steel Manufacturers Association applauds the Trump Administration’s actions today to strengthen the Section 232 steel tariffs,” said SMA President and CEO Philip K. Bell on Thursday.

“By right-sizing the derivatives list and updating the valuation of steel-containing goods, these measures reinforce President Trump’s signature trade achievement, ensuring the tariffs remain precisely targeted to support the revitalization of the American steel industry without undermining broader economic goals.”

Peter Navarro, senior counselor for trade and manufacturing to Trump since January 2025, shared a White House post on X celebrating Trump’s Liberation Day, highlighting “real results, putting more money in the pockets of American workers.”

He also commented on the administration’s plans to impose a 100% tariff on patented pharmaceutical products and ingredients, saying the president is “bringing pharma jobs home, reducing reliance on foreign supply chains, strengthening national security and putting downward pressure on drug prices.”

However, for Chad Franke, president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, tariffs have been all over the board.

“We don’t not support tariffs, but they need to be done in a thoughtful and methodical way,” he told The Post in October.

Trump invoked his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose the tariffs. Using IEEPA authority, Trump began by imposing a 10% tariff on all countries, followed by a year of frequently shifting tariff policies.

Young said tariffs in Colorado have risen sevenfold, increasing from about 3% to 21%, the highest level in more than a century. He said these high costs are rippling across industries from agriculture and construction to energy and aerospace, and even coffee roasters.

“A Denver retailer recently reported that tariffs cost his business $25,000 last fall alone and across the state, Colorado businesses paid $1.1 billion in tariffs in 2025,” Young said. “For a small business that is not a formula for a thriving future, it’s a recipe for ruin.”

The treasurers’ call coincided with the release of a new “Liberation Day Report” from nonprofit For the Long Term, which details the economic impact of tariffs in the past year. The report said American families have paid more than $1,700 each in tariff costs and nearly 200,000 blue-collar jobs have been lost, including approximately 89,000 manufacturing jobs and nearly 124,000 transportation and warehousing jobs.

About 96% of the tariff burden was paid by U.S. consumers, foreign exporters absorbed 4%, the report says. The report also found that Trump’s tariffs hiked retail prices for domestic goods by nearly 5% on average, while economic growth  “flatlined” to just 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

For Nathan Peterson, founder and CEO of Vederra Modular in Colorado, the strain has been building steadily.

“Over the past year, tariffs have pushed our material costs up around 6–7%, but the bigger issue has been supply chain instability and inconsistent delivery times. To manage that, we’re carrying more inventory, which, in addition to the price increases, is requiring more capital costs and ultimately driving up the cost of housing in Colorado,” Peterson said.

New data from We Pay the Tariffs, a grassroots coalition comprised of over 1,100 small businesses that advocates against tariffs, revealed American businesses have paid $265 billion in overall presidential tariffs. Business leaders emphasized that even after the recent Supreme Court decision striking down major portions of the tariffs, the impacts remain.

The federal government is working to return roughly $166 billion in unlawfully collected tariff duties through a refund process requiring detailed claims and data submissions. A process expected to take months or longer to fully complete.

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, alongside 18 of his Senate Democratic colleagues, sent a letter last month to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney S. Scott, demanding the administration to use existing records to automatically refund small businesses instead of forcing small businesses to opt-in.

The letter states the Trump administration’s proposed refund process, known as the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, creates unnecessary burdens for small businesses who are already struggling under tariffs.

“Small businesses should not have to do additional work to receive refunds on what amounted to illegal tariff payments,” the senators wrote in a news release last week.

“Every cent of illegal IEEPA tariffs must be returned. The only question is whether CBP will make that process as simple and equitable as possible, or whether it will implement a complicated and unfair system through which large corporations and Wall Street will benefit financially,” the senators wrote.

Hickenlooper, a former small-business owner and an outspoken opponent of Trump’s tariffs, recently introduced the Tariff Refund Act of 2026, which would fully refund businesses that paid the administration’s tariffs, and the Small Business RELIEF Act to exempt small businesses from the administration’s sweeping tariffs.

In 2025, Polis directed OEDIT and state agencies to analyze the effects of tariffs across key industries, finding widespread cost increases, planning challenges, and market disruptions for Colorado businesses.

According to the OSPB’s March Colorado Economic and Revenue Outlook, actual U.S. tariff revenue in 2025 was $287.1 billion on $3.44 trillion in U.S. imports, resulting in a U.S. effective tariff rate of 8.3 percent, which is a 219% increase in the effective tariff rate from 2024.

For Colorado, OSPB expects an effective tariff rate of 8.8% in 2026 and 7.7% in 2027, which is slightly below expectations of 9.% and 8.1% for the U.S. as a whole in 2026 and 2027 respectively.

The report also noted that small businesses have taken on an outsized burden of the tariff increases and lack the legal resources necessary to pursue refunds.

In response, the state is offering new and expanded resources through OEDIT and World Trade Center Denver, including a program that provides regular tariff updates, one-on-one advising and specialized consulting for businesses.

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The four astronauts who will be the first people to go to the moon in more than 50 years will fly in a spacecraft designed and engineered at Lockheed Martin in Jefferson County. A launch vehicle on course to propel the craft to the farthest distance humans have ever ventured in space was designed and built by United Launch Alliance in Centennial in partnership with Boeing.

The crew includes the first Black person, woman and non-American to fly on a lunar mission. The astronauts are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.

The crew will spend 10 days in the Orion spacecraft on a 685,000-mile trip around the moon. They will fly about 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon and possibly farther from Earth than the Apollo 13 distance record of 248,655 miles of 1970.

“Everything is looking like its going to be a go. No issues in work on the rocket side. No issues in work on Orion,” said Paul Benfield, Lockheed Martin’s Artemis II mission manager.

The weather outlook remained favorable Tuesday. Benfield planned to watch the launch outside with the public and then travel to Houston to be with the engineering teams to support people in the flight-control center.

Lockheed Martin has been involved in the Artemis program for about 15 years. The company was the prime contractor for the craft on the Artemis I mission in 2022. The 25-day flight, which had no crew onboard, was the first step in preparation for landing people on the moon again, planned for Artemis IV in 2028.

Lockheed has the second Orion sitting on the launchpad and three more crafts at the Kennedy Space Center to be assembled. “Different components are being worked on around the country, including in Colorado, to contribute to those,” Benfield said.

This will also be the second Artemis mission for ULA, which supplied the launch system for Artemis I. A system for Artemis III is at a facility Cape Canaveral, Fla., undergoing technical preparations.

The second stage built by ULA is positioned above the core stage, NASA’s space launch system. Together, they make up one of the most powerful rockets ever developed, NASA said, producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust during liftoff to loft a vehicle that’s nearly 6 million pounds.

Teams of ULA engineers and specialists are stationed in Denver and Cape Canaveral to support the countdown and flight of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage-2 on Artemis II, ULA said in a statement Tuesday. The company’s “ascent team” is on duty to provide real-time in-flight analysis and information to NASA’s Flight Operations team located at the Mission Control Center in Houston.

“The ULA team is excited to be involved in America’s return to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program,” the company said.

Benfield said there’s always an energy and excitement associated with working on missions when people travel into space. “It’s definitely taken on a new level of energy here in the weeks leading up to launch. You can feel the excitement, you can feel the historical importance of this mission coming together.”

For Artemis II, Orion includes a full array of crew seats and full displays and controls for the pilot and commander. The accommodations include a toilet and a phone-booth-size bay where individuals members can clean up.

“We’re also going to give the crew a chance to fly the vehicle for a short time,” Benfield said. “We want to collect some data on how accurately the vehicle responds to the crew providing commands from the pilot and commander.”

The craft can fly itself, but Lockheed wants to see how the vehicle responds to commands from the crew to prepare for rendezvousing with lunar landers on future missions.

“It’s a major program, a major milestone for the corporation, for the United States and for the world,” Lockheed spokesman Gary Napier said. “I don’t know that it’s seen a lot of attention by the general public. But once we launch and then go on to the 10-day mission, and especially the splashdown down after that, I think the world’s really going to be aware of what an amazing milestone this is.”

The company has declined to provide the number of jobs being eliminated, and it hasn’t filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which is required when a company eliminates 50 or more jobs at a single work site.

Citing anonymous employee reports, one industry publication, AeroTime, estimated the cuts were around 30%, which would translate to more than 540 workers from an estimated headcount of more than 1,800 employees.

Employees commenting on Reddit put the layoffs at closer to 40% to 50% of the headcount, according to Aviation International News.

“I was laid off via email, after 20 years with the company … classy place,” said one former employee on Reddit.

The company disputed those figures while declining to provide a precise number.

“Jeppesen ForeFlight made changes to streamline our operating model, which will support continued investment in product innovation and customer experience. While we are not sharing specific numbers, the current percentages being relayed through media are misleading and overstated,” the company said in a statement.

The company said it was supporting all affected employees with severance, benefits and resources through the transition and that “safe, reliability and our customer commitments remain unchanged and remain our top priority.”

JeppesenForeFlight is the leading provider of navigation and other software to the airline industry. Some pilots expressed concerns about the ongoing reliability and future quality of the company’s popular products, while others were taking a wait-and-see attitude, according to AeroTimes.

Last fall, the private equity firm Thoma Bravo paid $10.55 billion in cash for Boeing’s Digital Aviation Solutions, which included ForeFlight, Jeppesen, AerData and Oz Runways.

On Nov. 3, Thoma Bravo announced it had combined Jeppesen and ForeFlight into a new company called Jeppesen ForeFlight. Shortly after, the company’s CEO Brad Surek raised eyebrows when he told AvBrief.com that AI would be the company’s “north star” as it created a roadmap for future offerings.

Thoma Bravo describes itself as one of the largest software-focused investors in the world, with over $181 billion in assets under management as of June 30.

The firm has generated strong returns for its investors, but is also known for aggressive cost-cutting and large and undisclosed layoffs. Among the euphemisms it has used in the past are “strategic organizational changes” and “staffing optimization effort.”

In 1934, airline pilot Elrey Borge Jeppesen founded a company to provide the first standardized aviation navigation charts, which proved a hit with other pilots.

The company moved its headquarters from Salt Lake City to Denver in the 1940s. It eventually set up shop at 55 Inverness Drive East, where it has remained for several decades.

Jeppesen was such an important part of Colorado’s aviation history that Denver named the terminal of its airport after him and erected a statue in the terminal in tribute in 1995.

In 2000, Boeing acquired the company and expanded its offerings into flight planning, crew management, airline operations software and navigation data for commercial, business and military aviation.

ForeFlight was a separate company founded in 2007 in Houston and was behind a popular flight-planning and electronic flight bag application used by pilots. Boeing acquired the company in 2019.

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The Colorado Economic Development Commission awarded up to $2.76 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits to Project Electron, the codename given to the undisclosed tech firm. The award is conditioned on the company providing the 150 jobs targeted within an eight-year window.

The company, which is also considering New Mexico, said the jobs proposed would have an average annual wage of $168,422, which is 172% of the average annual wage in Boulder County. Quantum scientists, system engineers and operations managers are among the jobs that will be created.

Colorado is a federally designated quantum tech hub and Boulder and Broomfield counties are home to one of the densest clusters of quantum computing, and more than 50 firms active in the wider region. Some of the better-known names are Quantinuum, which claims to have the world’s best-performing quantum computer and is a “decacorn” (a startup valued at $10 billion or more); Infleqtion, a leader in cold atom computing; and Atom Computing, a neutral atom quantum computing firm that setup up an R&D facility in Boulder in 2022.

Quantum computing uses the rules of quantum physics to create devices that can process vast amounts of data at the same time and solve certain types of complex problems far more efficiently than traditional computers can. Their enhanced processing power could lead to breakthroughs in the development of new materials, medicines and semiconductors.

The commission offered $1.9 million in tax credits to Project Oak, an undisclosed aerospace company looking to add 150 new jobs in either El Paso or Elbert counties. The company, which employed 158 people, said it wanted to be nearer to two key customers, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force, in Colorado Springs.

A third award, worth up to $1.2 million in tax credits, was extended to Project Cedar, an industrial company that distributes painting and blasting equipment for use in defense, energy, transportation, and manufacturing. The company is looking at either Denver or Dallas for 97 jobs paying an average annual wage of $143,012.

A representative of the company, Matthew Rowland, said Project Cedar conducted an “exhaustive” search to land on the two cities, adding that Denver was more expensive, resulting in the requested incentives to bridge the gap.

“This is a very important decision for our company,” Rowland said.

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The Colorado Technology Association counts at least 18 unicorns active in the state, more than the number found in a majority of nations. The state has more unicorns than several European countries, more than all of the Middle East, excluding Israel, and more than the continent of Africa, according to a map maintained by Startup Blink.

Since September, Colorado, for the first time, added not one but two “decacorns,” or private companies valued at $10 billion or more. The companies are so uncommon that only 91 are estimated to exist in the world as of November, according to a list maintained by Failory, a website for entrepreneurs.

“Colorado has built one of the most productive startup pipelines in the country, not just launching new companies but helping them scale into enduring second-stage, growth companies,” said Brittany Morris Saunders, the association’s president and CEO.

In CTA’s most recent Colorado Tech Industry Report, the state ranks fifth nationally in venture capital funding and third in terms of its concentrated tech economy. It has also built a network that recirculates talent and capital from earlier startups to lead and fund new ones.

“That combination matters because it means founders can start here, attract capital here, and find the talent, customers and innovation infrastructure to grow here. The opportunity now is to deepen late-stage capital and scale-up talent while ensuring our regulatory and policy environment supports that growth, so the unicorns we build here keep growing here,” Saunders said.

Denver-based Crusoe Energy Systems offers an example of how an idea becomes a startup, grows into a unicorn, and over time matures into a decacorn able to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in outside investment and employ hundreds of people.

Founded in 2018 by childhood friends and Kent Denver School classmates Cully Cavness and Chase Lochmiller, the initial premise behind Crusoe was to take stranded gas from remote well sites and put it to a more productive use, helping both the environment and oil producers.

Across the hinterlands of western Texas and rural Wyoming, gas flares that once lit the night sky have been replaced by the quiet hum of generators. The waste gas fuels generators that produce electricity to power computer servers available to complete a variety of tasks.

Crusoe initially used its computing power to mine cryptocurrencies, but it sold that business in March to NYDIG so it could focus fully on data centers powering artificial intelligence platforms, the hottest part of the tech world.

“As the demand for large-scale AI training and inference expanded, Crusoe recognized that their ‘energy-first’ architecture for high-performance computing (bitcoin mining) was perfectly suited to power the AI era,” said company spokesman Andrew Schmitt.

The company now secures wind, solar and battery storage resources, not just gas, to overcome the “power gap” that has stalled some AI projects. And it is building AI data center campuses in rural areas that would otherwise be left behind, with a 1.2 gigawatt AI data center campus underway in Abilene, Texas, and a proposed 1.8 gigawatt data center planned in Cheyenne.

To expedite construction timelines, the company produces electrical switchgear at factories in Arvada and Tulsa. It is also developing off-grid AI centers that combine solar panels with repurposed electric vehicle batteries, which could reduce the strain on the power system that is contributing to higher electricity prices in many parts of the country.

In a push to assist innovators struggling to fund their own infrastructure, the company is rolling out Crusoe Cloud, an AI cloud platform where startups can test and develop their models using the latest hardware.

On Oct. 24, Valor Equity Partners, Mubadala Capital, the Abu Dhabi investment firm, and several other firms closed on a Series E round of $1.37 billion that valued the company at $10 billion. From its two founders, the company now employs more than 1,000 people at offices in Denver, San Francisco, Dublin, Seattle and at manufacturing plants in Arvada, Tulsa and Ponchatoula, Ark.

Broomfield-based Quantinuum, which is building Helios, a next-generation quantum computer, beat Crusoe to decacorn status by 50 days after raising $600 million in a Series B round from Honeywell, NVIDIA, JPMorgan, Mitsui and Amgen.

Quantinuum formed in November 2021 from the merger of Honeywell Quantum Solutions, which contributed its trapped-ion hardware, and Cambridge Quantum, which brought its cutting-edge software and operating systems. Honeywell claims Helois is the most accurate quantum computer on the market and that Quantinuum is the largest quantum computing company.

If it is successful, it could cement the Boulder tech corridor as the nation’s premier quantum computing hub and draw capital investment to other quantum unicorns in the region.

Colorado’s third-largest unicorn is Sierra Space, a Louisville company best known for developing the Dream Chaser, a reusable craft designed to deliver cargo to space. The company is also building satellite platforms for a variety of civil and commercial missions and working with Blue Origin to develop Orbital Reef, a commercial space station sometimes described as a “mixed-use business park in space.”

The company has an estimated value of $5.3 billion based on a Series B funding round of $300 million in September 2023. And its high valuation highlights the leading role the state plays in aerospace and defense.

Denver-based Guild, formerly known as Guild Education, uses online tools to help large employers train their workers and to provide career coaching. It also hosts employer-funded education programs offering everything from career certifications to a complete college degree.

The company was valued at $4.4 billion based on its 2022 funding round, although it has struggled the past two years, reflected in a layoff announced in May that claimed about a quarter of its workforce.

The next two largest unicorns are valued at about $2.5 billion each — Jetti Resources, a Denver-based mining technology firm focused on boosting copper production, and JumpCloud, a Louisville-based security platform that allows companies to manage devices and staff access from a unified cloud directory.

The remainder of the unicorns are valued at between $1 billion to $2 billion, including a promising new entrant, Ursa Major, which is developing solid fuel and hypersonic rocket systems that could improve U.S. defense capabilities. The Berthoud-based company raised a $100 million equity round in November, valuing it at around $1.5 billion.

The company plans to relocate its headquarters to a larger space and is ready to start mass-producing its rocket engines. The state’s Economic Development Commission in December approved $35.2 million in state tax credits, its largest single award so far to a company, in return for up to 1,835 new jobs being added in the state.

Where the unicorns roam

Aileen Lee, a co-founder of Cowboy Ventures, coined the term “unicorns” in 2013 after studying 60,000 U.S. tech companies formed over the prior 10 years. Only 39 achieved a valuation of $1 billion or higher, including several that are now household names like Facebook, LinkedIn, WorkDay and Twitter, according to PitchBook, a division of Morningstar that has tracked unicorn formation since 2016.

Unicorns, although small in number, generate the majority of returns that venture capital firms earn from their investments. The trend setters are important drivers of job growth and wealth creation. They are a key reason the U.S. has managed to maintain its standard of living and economic strength despite losing ground in areas like manufacturing, agriculture, mining and home construction.

PitchBook estimates that there are 1,562 unicorns globally as of Dec. 5. The U.S. accounts for a little over half of the total, followed by China with a fifth and India with 4% to 5%. The United Kingdom, Israel, Singapore, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Australia and South Korea are other countries where unicorns congregate.

California massively dominates within the U.S., both in the number of and size of its unicorns, followed by New York, Massachusetts, Texas and Washington, according to a map maintained by StartupLink.

Compared to when Lee did her study, private companies topping $1 billion in value have become so common as to call the label “unicorn” into question. Add in rich tech valuations and a dollar that isn’t worth what it used to be, and decacorns have become the new unicorns — truly rare.

A lot of startups are needed to achieve a $1 billion company. Colorado does well in both attracting promising startups from other states and in fostering its own entrepreneurs. And Colorado has far more unicorns than can be explained by its relatively small population of 6 million.

One explanation is that state universities have proven especially adept at commercializing research concepts, led by the University of Colorado. CU launched 35 companies from its intellectual property last fiscal year, the most from any single college campus in the country, and 10 more than the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A decade ago, it was launching an average of four to six startups a year. And the university is spinning off startups at a highly efficient rate per research dollar spent compared to its rivals, Bryn Rees, associate vice chancellor for innovation and partnerships at CU Boulder, noted in a release issued in September.

“Universities spinning out similar numbers of startups have significantly larger research budgets feeding their innovation pipeline,” Rees said. CU Boulder creates 5.1 startups for every $100 million in research funding, more than double the next most efficient university campus when it comes to the commercialization of concepts.

Colorado also has a high concentration of business incubators and accelerators, 53, which work to help concepts and young startups grow into more substantial companies, according to the website StartupBlink. Only larger states such as California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, and Georgia, as well as the District of Columbia, have more accelerators.

State economic development policy emphasizes startups and advanced industries, and Colorado has a good supply of seed and early-stage capital. But it has lacked funding for the later stages, which has contributed to a stunting and culling of its unicorns. A recent example was Veho, a provider of last-mile delivery services to e-commerce firms. It quietly relocated its headquarters from Denver to New York City sometime in 2024 without making an official announcement.

A 2020 study from the Regional Economic Development Institute at Colorado State University found that Colorado’s Front Range and California’s Silicon Valley had a similar mix of industries and technologies, success rates, and valuation at exit of its venture-capital-backed startups. That similarity existed even though Silicon Valley produced 10 times as many startups.

But there was a big difference with huge implications for the Colorado economy. About half of the successful Silicon Valley startups remained in the Bay Area, while only 28% of Colorado’s startups remained in the state. The gap was even more startling in the value of the companies that remain.

Colorado only kept 14% of the disclosed value of its unicorns, while the Bay Area kept closer to 60%. To use a cattle analogy, Colorado birthed and raised the calves, but the long-term value, the ribeyes and filets, were largely consumed in other states.

Adam Burrows, who became a venture capitalist in 2020 after leading HomeAdvisor, said the situation described in the CSU report has turned around this decade. Colorado is now able to retain more of its unicorns for longer. And the value chain is expanding as success generates more success.

A deeper pool of executive talent, including seasoned entrepreneurs who have built multiple companies, has left venture capital firms more comfortable keeping companies in Colorado and their leadership teams intact and funding bigger rounds.

“People used to say you couldn’t build a unicorn in Colorado and to sell out early. Now, we have decacorns,” he said.

Ibotta was founded in 2011 in Denver as a cashback app that provided digital coupons and rebates to consumers on behalf of retailers. The company raised $660 million in an initial public offering in April. And CEO Bryan Leach has kept the headquarters in downtown Denver.

But challenges remain. Colorado has a higher share of unicorns in hard tech areas like quantum computing, aerospace and energy.  Unlike a software company that can scale quickly with a smaller investment and leaner staff, hard-tech companies take longer to mature and achieve success.

And that’s where the state runs into another problem: the lack of a strong manufacturing base. Growing firms have reported shortages of machinists, welders and other skilled positions that make it harder for hard-tech firms to ramp up production here.

Burrows, while he wants to remain optimistic about the future, said Colorado needs to maintain a welcoming business environment. He points to the state’s passage of Senate Bill 24-205, which regulates the AI industry, as being the equivalent of dragging a needle across a record that had previously been playing a good song.

In an effort to protect consumers against “algorithmic discrimination” in hiring, lending, housing and medical care, the state legislature passed the toughest restriction anywhere on AI, jumping ahead of even California.

The tech industry pushed back, calling the new rules vague, burdensome, expensive and innovation-chilling. The passage occurred despite no actual examples of AI-based algorithmic discrimination occurring in the state, said Burrows, who is on a task force advising the governor on AI.

Supporters of the new AI regulations argue that responsible companies want clear guardrails, and that “tech-flight” is a scare tactic. The time to implement is now, before discrimination becomes entrenched, they say.

“We are trying to prioritize transparency, disclosure, and liability. Tech companies rejecting liability is a huge admission of guilt,” said Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada. “If the public wants transparent policy in this important topic, we have to do better.”

Titone, who also chairs the Legislature’s Joint Technology Committee, questioned whether the governor’s AI task force can really find statewide consensus because it is packed with industry representatives with conflicting interests and no legislators.

Colorado remains heavily dependent on out-of-state capital to fund its unicorns, and entrepreneurs who relocate from other states are important players in its startup scene, Burrows said.

“We have had everything going our way, but some people take it for granted. Or maybe they don’t want it to continue. We are all scared,” Burrows said of the new law, which goes into effect on June 30.

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In line with the practice of cloaking the names of applicants, the award was made to Project Ladybug. The Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits are conditioned on the unnamed company creating up to 1,850 jobs at an average annual wage of $128,108 over the next eight years.

Project Ladybug is a local aerospace company with 311 employees, including 255 in Colorado, which matches the headcount of Berthoud-based Ursa Major. The company told the state it was considering expanding in Mississippi, California and Ohio, a state where Ursa Major has a manufacturing plant. It appears the company will locate its expanded headquarters in Broomfield County.

The most telling clue is that the company in question received an Advanced Industries program award of $250,000 in 2017 from the state. That matches Ursa Major to a T.

Ursa Major raised $100 million in equity and $50 million in debt commitments in a Series E round that closed on Nov. 18, and now has an estimated value of $1.5 billion to $2 billion, according to CB Insights. That would make it a “unicorn” like SpaceX, just a lot smaller. The company has also disclosed that it has secured $115 million in contracts this year from commercial and defense industry customers.

Among the jobs it expects to add are roles in human resources, legal, finance, IT, market and compliance, as well as in production and research and development. Ursa Major broke ground on a new 400-acre solid rocket motor test site in Weld County on Sept. 10. That facility will allow it to design, build and test large solid rocket motor systems more efficiently.

“This facility represents a major step forward in our ability to deliver qualified SRMs that are scalable, flexible, and ready to meet the evolving threat environment,” said Dan Jablonsky, CEO of Ursa Major, in a release. “It’s a clear demonstration of our commitment and ability to rapidly advance and expand the American-made solid rocket motor industrial base that the country needs, ensuring warfighters will have the quality and quantity of SRMs needed to meet mission demands.”

The company is also making advances in liquid engine designs for hypersonic missiles, an emerging weapons system where the U.S. lags China and Russia. Those faster missiles can evade defense systems more easily and hit their targets more quickly, which is why the Department of Defense is pushing hard to close the gap.

Ursa Major’s Hadley H13 engine has been tested at sustained Mach 5+ hypersonic speeds and the company is also developing the Draper, a storable liquid engine with hypersonic applications.

Joe Laurienti, a former engineer at Blue Origin and SpaceX, founded Ursa Major Technologies in 2015. The company has grown to be an important player in the Front Range’s push to be recognized as “Aerospace Alley” or the next Silicon Valley of defense and aerospace.

Growing aerospace and defense companies and jobs is a priority for state economic development efforts. But the state tax credits offered are only useful when companies have profits to offset them. That often isn’t the case with startups and rapidly growing companies.

To boost the value of the incentives, state legislators in 2023 approved the CHIPS Refundable Tax Credits program that allows the state to pay out up to 80% of any credits not used to offset taxes for companies in advanced industries.

The commission on Thursday approved making $8 million in credits refundable to the company from this fiscal year’s allocation of $15 million per year under the program. It also agreed to earmark another $15 million from the next round of funding.

The credits awarded, if they are all claimed, will work out to a little more than $19,000 per job created.

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