Shield AI, the US-based defence technology developer that counts Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital firm backed by media group Bloomberg, secured $210m in its series D round yesterday.
Investment firm Disruptive led the round, which also featured venture capital firm Point72 Ventures and unnamed VC funds. It valued Shield AI at over $1bn, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The company indicated it plans to raise an additional $15m in equity and $75m in debt financing over the coming weeks, to take the size of the round to $300m.
Founded in 2015, Shield AI has developed artificial intelligence software called Hivemind that allows aircraft to navigate autonomously, including in high-threat environments where communications or global positioning systems may not be available.
The company will use the funding to speed up its growth in the defence and commercial sectors, as well as that of its recently acquired businesses: unmanned vertical take-off and landing aircraft manufacturer Martin UAV and smart defence software developer Heron Systems.
Shield AI had collected $90m in a Point72 Ventures-led series C round in February 2021, following $22.2m in series B funding from unnamed investors in September 2019. Breyer Capital had participated in a $10m round the previous year, according to a securities filing.
Bloomberg Beta’s investment came through a $10.5m series A round in 2017 that was led by Andreesen Horowitz and which also featured Founder Collective and Homebrew.
Ryan Tseng, Shield AI’s co-founder of and CEO, said: “The funding round enables Shield AI to move one step closer to its goal of becoming a 21st century defence prime through a software first approach, where products derive a strong competitive advantage from an autonomy and artificial intelligence backbone, similar to what you see across the consumer product market, where great hardware is differentiated through great software.”
