Nizel Pradhan
Shield AI, a fast-growing defense technology company building AI pilots for aircraft, today announced it has raised additional equity capital from the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT).
This additional raise was done at the company’s Series E price and closes out the round at $225M, with $150M in equity and $75M in debt. The initial part of Series E was closed in June, which made the company the fourth venture-backed, multi-billion-dollar defense-technology startup in 20 years.
“We fundamentally believe that the greatest victory requires no war, which is why deterrence technology like AI pilots for defense are so crucial. We are racing to put up swarms of highly intelligent aircraft to deter the next conflict and this new capital accelerates our efforts,” said Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s cofounder, president, and former Navy SEAL.
Shield AI’s Hivemind software is an AI pilot for military and commercial aircraft that enables intelligent teams of aircraft to perform missions ranging from room clearance, to penetrating air defense systems, and dogfighting F-16s. Hivemind employs state-of-the-art algorithms for planning, mapping, and state-estimation to enable aircraft to execute dynamic flight maneuvers and uses reinforcement learning for discovery, learning, and execution of winning tactics and strategies. On aircraft, Hivemind enables full autonomy and is designed to run fully on the edge, disconnected from the cloud, in high threat, GPS and communication-degraded environments.
“Automated defense capabilities will play an increasingly essential role in our defense programs and are critical to our ability to remain competitive,” said Thomas Tull, Chairman of USIT. “Shield AI is a leader in this space, developing some of the most advanced and cutting-edge technology for AI piloting. We are proud to be able to support Shield AI and the work they are doing in defense.”
Shield AI is a venture-backed company built around a team of proven executives, warfighters with relevant national security experience, and world-class AI engineers. The company has offices in San Diego, Washington D.C., Dallas, and Abu Dhabi. Shield AI’s products and people are currently in the field actively supporting operations with the U.S. Department of Defense and allies. For more information, visit www.shield.ai
