Long Beach’s presence as an aerospace juggernaut is getting even larger.

True Anomaly Inc., a Colorado-based defense technology firm working on advance space systems, is expanding into the city with a 90,000-square-foot factory. The company is expected to start working out of the facility in the next few weeks. It is its first factory in the Golden State.

The property will be used for product development and vertical integration and will contain 20,000 square feet of office space. The company’s headquarters will remain in Colorado.

“Expanding to Southern California is a logical next step for True Anomaly,” Even Rogers, chief executive and co-founder of Ture Anomaly, said in a statement. “Long Beach has a deep history tied to aerospace and we’re currently at the forefront of historic innovations in the defense sector. I’m excited to grow our footprint in a critically important region as we develop new products and scale our capabilities this year.”

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said the city looked “forward to the opportunities they will bring across defense, tech and aerospace that will make our community thrive.”

True Anomaly, which currently has 150 employees, has plans to double in size this year. The Long Beach facility specifically can hold a few hundred employees.

Space company grows rapidly

True Anomaly has been growing since its founding in 2022. In 2023, the company closed a $100 million Series B equity raise led by Venice-based Riot Ventures. Eclipse, ACME Capital, Menlo Ventures, Narya, 645 Ventures, Rocketship.vc, Champion Hill Ventures, and FiveNine Ventures also participated in the fundraise.

True Anomaly reached a milestone last year when its second mission, Mission X-2, launched its Jackal Autonomous Orbital Vehicle into orbit on the Bandwagon-2 rideshare mission with Hawthorne-based SpaceX.

The mission came just nine months after its first mission and incorporated “product improvements and learnings” from that mission, according to the company.

The company is working on additional development, testing and launches of Jackal AOVs.

Long Beach as a growing space hub

A number of aerospace companies already call Long Beach, known by some as “Space Beach,” home.

Aerospace firms headquartered in Long Beach include Rocket Lab USA and SpinLaunch, while other large companies such as Boeing, SpaceX, PCX Aerosystems, NuSpace, Aevum and Weber Metals, which is based in nearby Paramount, have a significant presence in the city.

Last year, shortly before SpaceX Founder Elon Musk announced plans to move the company’s headquarters to Texas, the space giant renewed its lease in Long Beach and doubled its footprint in the city. Also last year, Ampaire Inc., which is working on electric aircraft systems development, moved its headquarters to the Long Beach Airport.

And Vast, which is also based in the area, is expanding its employee count.

Beyond aerospace, last year Ford Motor Co. signed a 250,000-square-foot lease in Long Beach to build a research and development center focusing on electric vehicles. The center is expected to bring 450 jobs to the city and open in March.

The car giant previously had a plant in Long Beach that opened in 1936 but closed 65 years ago.

“True Anomaly’s decision to expand to Long Beach aligns with our vision of continuous growth and innovation,” Richardson said.