Shield AI, a San Diego, CA-based defense technology company building an AI pilot for aircraft, raised $200m in Series F funding which valued it at $2.7 billion.
The round was led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT) and co-led by Riot Ventures, with participation from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest and returning investors Disruptive and Snowpoint.
The company intends to use the funds to
- Scale and deploy its V-BAT Teams product domestically and internationally.
- Accelerate tech integration with third-party uncrewed platforms.
Led by Brandon Tseng, President, and co-founder, Shield AI builds an AI pilot called Hivemind, which enables teams of intelligent aircraft to operate autonomously in high-threat environments on the edge, without the need for remote operators, command inputs, or GPS. The technology approach is similar to those in the self-driving car industry and its software stack is aircraft agnostic, allowing Shield AI to provide autonomy to a variety of form factors across the aerospace industry.
This announcement follows the company’s recent launch of its V-BAT Teams product. This product enables a single human operator to command a minimum of four V-BATs, generating real-time AI-driven flight paths, and exhibiting dynamic read-and-react behaviors autonomously. Except for lethal decision-making, V-BAT Teams can complete missions from start to finish without the need for an operator or pilot.
Concurrently, the company has been working on integrating Hivemind into uncrewed fighter jets, a significant effort supported both through government programs and company R&D. In December 2022, Shield AI, along with its government partners, autonomously maneuvered a modified F-16 in real-world air-combat scenarios. The company continues to fly and test its autonomy on fighter jets and has more autonomous maneuver flight hours of fighter jets than any company in the world.
FinSMEs
31/10/2023