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Shield AIhas raised $ 200 million in unexampled financial support as it looks to descale its independent flying systems for the U.S. military machine and its allies .
The startup , which was found in 2015 , is now valued at $ 2.7 billion . This tardy round was co - led by U.S. Innovation Technology Fund ( USIT ) and Riot Ventures , both prior investors in Shield AI . Other contributors let in exist investors Disruptive and Snowpoint and Modern investor ARK Invest , the investment management house founded by Cathie Wood .
USIT , run by billionaire Thomas Tull , wasthe sole contributorto an earlier $ 60 million tranche of funding that was added to Shield AI ’s Series E. This sizable Series F round reflect the fellowship ’s stiff fundraising rail disk — the company ’s Series Etotaled $ 225 million and its Series D come in between $ 210 million-$300 million .
It also reflectsthe often Washington - intensive nature of defense - focused startup — even ones that vaunt systems cheaper than their legacy contender , as Shield AI does .
The inauguration makes hardware and software to transform drones and aircraft into sovereign systems open of executing missions in contested environments . The company ’s core product is Hivemind , an AI pilot software that enables drones and aircraft to operate autonomously — without even GPS to assist them . Shield AI has also developed a drone swarming capability it calls V - Bat Teams , which enable a exclusive human operator to command a minimum of four Phoebe - Bat drones . ( Those drones , which take - off and land vertically , were developed by Martin UAV , which Shield AI acquired in 2021 . )
“ Our nation is face up with the difficult reality that our pilots are too few and the rules - free-base autonomy solution too dim for such swarms to live , ” chief executive officer and co - laminitis Ryan Tseng said when the company announce V - Bat Teams sooner this month . “ Shield AI transfer this . For almost nine years , Shield AI has focused on building the world ’s best AI original from a coarse AI backbone that is relevant and deployable any aircraft — from quadcopters to F-16 ’s . ”
The San Diego - based company is also work to integrate Hivemind into uncrewed fighter jets and other aircraft . Increasingly advanced replication bourdon engineering science — much of which is focus on impede the drone ’s communication or navigation — have no doubt made Shield AI ’s technical school stack especially attractive to the Pentagon .
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The new backing comes amidst a moving ridge of investor support for defense technology startups , spurred on in part by rising geopolitical tension and a sharp knowingness amongst technologist and the Pentagon that the U.S. risks falling behind its adversary . Indeed , a portion of that call has come from Shield AI executive director : back in 2021 , carbon monoxide - founder Brandon Tsengfamously comparedChina ’s military to Netflix — and the U.S. military machine to Blockbuster .
