You've probably seen the headlines about data orchestration blowing up. Or maybe you're just tracking the massive rise of Apache Airflow in the AI space. Either way, if you’re looking for a ticker symbol for the astronomer company publicly traded on the NYSE or Nasdaq, I’ve got some news that might be a bit of a letdown.
Honestly, you can't buy it on E*TRADE yet.
Astronomer, the heavy hitter behind the enterprise version of Apache Airflow (called Astro), is still very much a private company. Despite the "astronomer company publicly traded" rumors that tend to swirl every time they announce a fresh funding round, they haven't pulled the trigger on an IPO.
The Reality of Astronomer’s Market Status
It’s easy to see why people get confused. Astronomer acts like a public company. They have massive enterprise customers like Apple, Ford, and Uber. They basically run the show when it comes to Airflow, contributing over half of the code and driving almost all the major releases, including the big Airflow 3.0 launch in early 2025.
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But as of right now, there is no ticker. No $ASTRO. No $ASTR.
Instead, what we have is a venture-backed powerhouse that recently closed a Series D funding round in May 2025. They pulled in $93 million in that round, led by Bain Capital Ventures. If you're looking at their valuation, it’s sitting somewhere in the "so-called unicorn" territory, with some private market estimates tagging them around the $1 billion mark, though secondary market activity in early 2026 has shown even higher demand.
Why isn't Astronomer public yet?
Basically, they don't have to be. When you have backers like Salesforce Ventures, Insight Partners, and Meritech, your bank account stays pretty healthy without the headache of quarterly earnings calls. CEO Pete DeJoy, who took the reins after Andy Byron, seems focused on the "unified DataOps" play rather than rushing to the stock exchange.
The company is currently helping 800+ of the world’s biggest enterprises manage their data pipelines. In a world obsessed with AI, those pipelines are the "plumbing" that makes everything else work. If the plumbing breaks, the AI hallucinating is the least of your problems; the whole system just stops.
How "Investors" are Actually Trading It
Since you can't just go out and buy the astronomer company publicly traded stock on a standard brokerage, people are getting creative.
Accredited investors—basically the folks with the deep pockets—are using secondary markets. Platforms like Nasdaq Private Market and EquityZen are where the action is.
- Secondary Shares: Employees or early investors who want to buy a house or diversify their portfolio sell their private shares.
- Accredited Only: You usually need to prove you have a certain net worth or income to play in this sandbox.
- Tape D Pricing: There's this thing called "Tape D" price that Nasdaq Private Market uses to estimate what a share is worth. Lately, it's been hovering around $0.80 to $0.85 per share, but that’s an estimate, not a real-time price like you'd see for Apple.
It's a bit of a wild west. You aren't buying a stock; you're buying a "private security." There’s way less liquidity, meaning if you buy it today and need the cash tomorrow, you might be stuck holding the bag for a while.
What Most People Get Wrong About the "Astronomer" Ticker
If you search for "astronomer company publicly traded" and find a ticker that looks right, be careful. There are plenty of companies with "Astro" in the name that have nothing to do with data orchestration.
For instance, there’s AstroNova (ALOT), which does thermal imagery and sensors. Then there’s Astrotech (ASTC), which works in space tech. Neither of these is the company that manages your Apache Airflow DAGs.
Astronomer (the data company) is headquartered in New York, with deep roots in Cincinnati. They aren't looking at the stars; they're looking at your data latency.
The Apache Airflow Connection
You can't talk about Astronomer without talking about Airflow. It’s the open-source "engine" under the hood. Airflow was downloaded over 324 million times in 2024 alone.
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Astronomer’s business model is sorta like Red Hat’s was for Linux. They take the free, open-source stuff and build a "pro" version (Astro) that doesn't break when a thousand people use it at once. They add observability, lineage (knowing where data came from), and better security.
Should You Wait for the IPO?
Kinda depends on your risk tolerance. The data orchestration market is crowded. They’re fighting off competitors like Databricks, Snowflake (who have their own orchestration tools), and even smaller startups like Prefect or Dagster.
But Astronomer has a moat. That moat is the community. Because they employ 18 of the top 25 Airflow committers, they effectively steer the ship of the most popular orchestration tool on the planet.
Actionable Insights for Tracking Astronomer:
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- Monitor Secondary Markets: If you’re an accredited investor, keep an eye on Nasdaq Private Market for "Tape D" updates. This is the closest you’ll get to a real-time valuation.
- Watch Airflow 3.0 Adoption: The success of the newest open-source release is a leading indicator for Astronomer’s enterprise growth. If companies struggle to manage 3.0 on their own, they’ll flock to Astro.
- Track "S-1" Filings: Keep a Google Alert for "Astronomer Inc S-1." That's the document a company has to file with the SEC before they go public. Until that drops, any talk of a ticker symbol is just noise.
- Verify the Name: Make sure you aren't accidentally buying a satellite or telescope company. You are looking for Astronomer, Inc., the DataOps company.
The "astronomer company publicly traded" dream isn't a reality yet, but with 150% year-over-year growth in their Astro platform, the "when" is starting to look a lot more interesting than the "if."
Next Steps for You
If you're serious about getting exposure to this space, start by looking at the public companies that partner with them. Snowflake and Databricks both have deep integrations with Astronomer. Often, when the "plumbing" company does well, the "faucet" companies do too. Check out the latest Series D investor list to see which public companies (like Salesforce) have a stake in their success.