Defence technology company Shield AI has announced an expansion of its Series F funding round by $300m, bringing the total to $500m.
The latest funding includes $100m in equity and $200m in debt from Hercules Capital.
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In October 2023, the US-based company raised $200m in equity funding led by US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT) and co-led by Riot Ventures.
ARK Invest and existing investors Disruptive and Snowpoint also joined the round, which valued Shield AI at $2.7bn.
Set up in 2015 by Brandon Tseng, a former Navy SEAL and Ryan Tseng, Shield AI offers an artificial intelligence (AI) pilot, called Hivemind.
Hivemind is designed to enable autonomous operation of teams of intelligent aircraft in high-threat environments.
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By GlobalDataThis technology does not require remote operators or GPS and is adaptable to various aircraft, including quadcopters, the MQ-35A V-BAT, and the F-16.
Shield AI plans to fly the Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie using Hivemind in 2024.
The company claims to have accumulated more autonomous flight hours performing complex manoeuvres, such as dogfighting, than any other company globally.
Recently, the technology vendor launched V-BAT Teams, a software powered by Hivemind
V-BAT Teams is said to enable teams to autonomously execute missions, responding to each other and the environment in a manner akin to human pilots.
The funds raised in the Series F round will be utilised to speed up tech integration with other unmanned platforms and expand the local and worldwide rollout of Shield AI’s V-BAT Teams offering.
Shield AI president and co-founder Brandon Tseng said: “The defence and investment communities are seeing the profound impact AI pilots will have on national security and global stability.
“AI pilots solve the electronic warfare (GPS- and communications-jamming) problem that’s devastating 10,000 drones per month in the Russia-Ukraine War, and they enable the operating concept of intelligent, affordable mass, where swarms of affordable aircraft can accomplish missions normally reserved for expensive, exquisite aircraft.”
