Defense technology startup Artificial intelligence shield TechCrunch exclusively expanded its latest funding round with another $300 million in equity and debt, bringing its Series F total to $500 million.
This total reflects $200 million of equity closed in November, $100 million of new equity raised at the Series F price, and $200 million of debt. The debt provider is Hercules Capital. Shield declined to specify the source of the additional shares. The company’s valuation now stands at $2.8 billion, up from $2.7 billion in November.
Shield AI is building an “AI pilot” to turn aircraft into autonomous systems. Its flagship product, Hivemind, will allow aircraft teams to operate independently of remote operators, communications or GPS. Shield CEO and co-founder Ryan Tseng attributes the ability to recent advances in computing.
“AI pilots have become a traditional strategic deterrent in its class with our aircraft carriers and
He said in a statement: “Guided missile submarines.” “But interestingly, this is the first software-defined strategic deterrent and has only recently become possible due to advances in artificial intelligence and computing power. This is a huge paradigm shift in aerospace and defense.”
While venture debt is poorly covered, it can make a lot of sense – especially for late-stage companies that need a capital infusion to get to the finish line (such as profitability or exit). Rather than being a last-ditch survival mechanism for distressed companies (as is sometimes the case for early-stage startups), later-stage venture debt can be a smart way to leverage a late-stage growth company.
The San Diego-based company recently launched V-BAT Teams, a software product that works with Hivemind and enables V-BAT drone teams to execute missions autonomously and in coordination.
In his recent testimony before the US Senate, President and Co-Founder Brandon Tseng emphasized the importance of AI systems to the nation’s overall deterrence strategy, saying: “We believe AI-guided systems will be the greatest military deterrent of our generation. We must get it right.” However, he added that integrating AI pilots into the Defense Department’s force structure has been “difficult and opaque.”
“As we see new types of warfare, where the large, exceptional military arsenals we have built can be disrupted by an adversary’s small, cheap weapons, we need the Department of Defense to change the way it builds its force for the future: shift the model away from what has worked in the past and focus its resources on The next game-changing technology assets “Adoption of AI pilots is too slow, and we will fail. “Bold action is required if we are to win.”