To expand its autonomous flying systems for the U.S. military and its allies, Shield AI has raised an additional $200 million in funding.
Founded in 2015, the firm now has a $2.7 billion valuation. Riot Ventures and the U.S. Innovation Technology Fund (USIT), two previous Shield AI investors, co-led this most recent round. Additional investors include Snowpoint and Disruptive, two current investors, and Cathie Wood’s newly formed investment management company, ARK Invest.
The only investor in the previous $60 million fundraising round added to Shield AI’s Series E was USIT, which billionaire Thomas Tull heads. The firm has a solid track record of raising money; its Series E raised $225 million, and its Series D raised between $210 million and $300 million. This significant Series F investment is indicative of that success.
It also illustrates the capital-intensive character of defense-oriented companies, even those who, like Shield AI, claim to have systems at a lower cost than their established rivals.
The business develops technology and software to enable airplanes and drones to become autonomous systems carrying out missions in hostile conditions. Hivemind, the company’s flagship product, is A.I. pilot software that lets drones and airplanes fly on their own without the need for GPS guidance.
Additionally, Shield AI has created a drone-swarming feature called V-Bat Teams, which allows a minimum of four V-Bat drones to be controlled by a single human operator. (Martin UAV, which Shield AI purchased in 2021, produced those drones that take off and land vertically.)
The CEO and co-founder of the firm, Ryan Tseng, stated when the company unveiled V-Bat Teams earlier this month, “Our nation is faced with the difficult reality that our pilots are too few and the rules-based autonomy solutions too dumb for such swarms to exist.” “Shield AI modifies this.” Building the most excellent A.I. pilot in the world from a common A.I. foundation that can be applied to any aircraft, from quadcopters to F-16s, has been Shield AI’s main goal for the past nine years.
Additionally, the San Diego-based startup is working on Hivemind’s integration into uncrewed fighter jets and other aircraft. The Pentagon is undoubtedly drawn to Shield AI’s tech stack because of the increasingly advanced counter-drone technology, which is concentrated on blocking the drone’s communications or navigation.
In a statement, Riot Ventures co-founder and managing partner Stephen Marcus said that drone warfare is becoming more prevalent on battlefields and that the enemy is doing everything in their power to create a hostile environment, including blocking communications and GPS. “Air Force modernization is blind flying. Shield’s A.I. pilot is sophisticated enough to adjust to its surroundings without needing GPS or communications. Their AI can be trained to do a wide range of tasks; it has already piloted teams of quadcopters, V-BATs, and contemporary fighter planes. What Tesla is doing with their self-driving stack is the closest technological analog we’ve found.
The fresh money comes amid a wave of investor backing for companies in defense technology, fueled in part by increased geopolitical tensions and a keen realization by engineers and the Pentagon that the United States is in danger of lagging behind its rivals. As co-founder Brandon Tseng notably said back in 2021, comparing China’s military to Netflix and the U.S. military to Blockbuster, Shield AI executives have made some of that call.
