Mach Industries raises $300M at $1.8B valuation

Mach Industries, a defense technology startup founded in 2023, announced on Monday that it has raised a $300 million Series C round—a stage of venture capital financing. The round, led by deep tech fund Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital, values the company at $1.8 billion, representing a nearly 4x increase in one year. In June 2025, Mach raised $100 million at a $470 million valuation. Other investors include Bedrock Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures. The startup’s growth comes as autonomous weapons prove themselves in battle in Ukraine. According to founder and CEO Ethan Thornton, the company initially sought to raise $200 million but increased the target to $300 million due to heavy investor demand.

To bypass long lead times from legacy prime defense contractors—major established military suppliers like Northrop Grumman—the Huntington Beach, California-based startup is vertically integrating. Last month, Mach acquired solid rocket motor (SRM) startup Exquadrum for $50 million, beating out upward of eight other potential buyers. The acquisition allows Mach to secure its own supply of rocket motors, a market currently controlled by prime defense contractors Aerojet Rocketdyne and Northrop Grumman. Following the acquisition, Mach launched a commercial business unit, Mach Energetics, to sell these engines. This commercial unit is distinct from Mach’s government-facing operations; Thornton noted that the company’s current revenue mix is 50/50 between selling to the government and selling to other companies.

Mach currently has five autonomous vehicles in development, with production expected to begin next year on at least three of these systems:

• Viper: A jet-powered vertical takeoff vehicle.
• Glide: A high-altitude glider capable of launching weapons.
• Stratos: An airborne surveillance platform.
• Dart: A low-cost counter-drone interceptor.
• Pike: Intended for launching long-range munitions.

Additionally, the startup won a Department of Defense contract for a sixth, undisclosed vehicle. Awarded by the Defense Innovation Unit—a US government organization that accelerates commercial technology for national defense—the contract is to develop the Navy’s new runway-independent strike aircraft. According to Thornton, this new vehicle could also have commercial applications.

The startup has scaled from about a dozen employees in its first year to about 350 employees today, operating a 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach. Thornton stated that the company plans to bring on four new production facilities by the end of 2026. He highlighted the speed of their development cycles: “Traditionally, it’s four years to build a jet engine. That’s about the fastest you can find in this space. And we went from no team to building a team to a jet engine firing in about eight months.”

Why it matters

Mach Industries’ rapid valuation jump underscores intense investor appetite for defense tech startups that are vertically integrating to challenge legacy prime contractors by controlling critical supply chains like solid rocket motors.