Defense startup Mach Industries raises $600M amid manufacturing push

Mach Industries Inc. has raised $600 million in funding to expand its manufacturing capacity.

The investment, which was announced today, extends a Series C round that the company closed in June. That deal included the participation of Ribbit Capital, Infinite Capital, Bedrock Capital, Sequoia and others. The four venture capital firms also backed Mach Industries’ latest raise.

Mach Industries offers a lineup of autonomous aircraft designed to be produced in large numbers. The company’s first product, Viper, is the fruit of a product development contract that it won from the U.S. Army last March. It’s a drone that takes off vertically without the launch infrastructure usually needed for the task.

Viper is powered by a turbojet engine. Such engines work by ingesting air from the atmosphere and compressing it using spinning blades. A different part of the engine heats the air in conjunction, which causes it to exit the exhaust at high speed.

Mach Industries also makes two other drones, Glide and Pike, that are optimized for long-range flight. The company says that they’re designed to be inexpensive to manufacture. Another cost-optimized Mach Industries drone, Dart, can intercept other drones by colliding with them.

The company is not limiting its focus to traditional autonomous aircraft designs. Mach Industries also offers a pseudo-satellite, a high-altitude balloon that can carry sensors and communications equipment.

The company regularly makes new additions to its product portfolio. In June, Mach Industries won a U.S. Defense Department contract to develop an aircraft called Atlas. It will be capable of taking off from ships and covering up to 1,400 nautical miles per trip.

Mach Industries is building a vertically integrated manufacturing system that will enable it to produce the core components of its aircraft in-house. The company operates a 115,000-square-foot plant in Huntington Beach, California that also functions as its headquarters. In May, it spent $50 million to acquire rocket motor manufacturer Exquadrum Inc.

Mach Industries recently teamed up with a startup called Divergent Technologies Inc. to put its production workflows to the test. The companies managed to design and manufacture a new drone in 71 days. They detailed that the fast turnaround was partly made possible by the use of 3D printing. The technology makes it possible to replace multiple discrete components with a single structure that is easier to produce.

“This investment allows us to continue expanding that capacity while moving new platforms from development into production faster,” said Mach Industries founder and Chief Executive Officer Ethan Thornton.

The round comes three months after rival Helsing SE closed a$1.8 billion investment. Like Mach Industries, the German startup develops a series of autonomous aircraft optimized for cost-efficiency. Earlier, Anduril Industries Inc. raised $5 billion in funding at a $61 billion valuation.

Photo: Mach Industries