Shield AI has raised $200 million in new funding as it looks to scale its autonomous flying systems for the U.S. military and its allies. The startup, which was founded in 2015, is now valued at $2.7 billion. This latest round was co-led by U.S. Innovation Technology Fund (USIT) and Riot Ventures, both prior investors in Shield AI. Other contributors include existing investors Disruptive and Snowpoint and new investor ARK Invest, the investment management firm founded by Cathie Wood. USIT, led by billionaire Thomas Tull, was the sole contributor to an earlier $60 million tranche of funding that was added to Shield AI’s Series E. This sizable Series F round reflects the company’s strong fundraising track record – the company’s Series E totaled $225 million and its Series D came in between $210 million-$300 million. It also reflects the often capital-intensive nature of defense-focused startups – even ones that boast systems cheaper than their legacy competitors, as Shield AI does. The startup makes hardware and software to transform drones and aircraft into autonomous systems capable of executing missions in contested environments. The company’s core product is Hivemind, an AI pilot software that enables drones and aircraft to operate autonomously – without even GPS to assist them. Shield AI has also developed a drone swarming capability it calls V-Bat Teams, which enables a single human operator to command a minimum of four V-Bat drones. (Those drones, which take-off and land vertically, were developed by Martin UAV, which Shield AI acquired in 2021.) “Our nation is faced with the difficult reality that our pilots are too few and the rules-based autonomy solutions too dumb for such swarms to exist,” CEO and cofounder Ryan Tseng said when the company announced V-Bat Teams earlier this month.

Full story : Shield AI raises $200M at a $2.7B valuation to scale military autonomous flying tech.