Defense tech darling Mach Industries hits $1.8B valuation, a 4x jump in a year
Defense tech darling Mach Industries hits $1.8B valuation, a 4x jump in a year
国防科技宠儿 Mach Industries 估值达到 18 亿美元，一年内翻了四倍
Mach Industries, the three-year-old defense tech startup run by 22-year-old founder and CEO Ethan Thornton, has raised a $300 million Series C at a $1.8 billion valuation, the company announced on Monday. The raise nearly quadruples the valuation of the company in a year. In June 2025, Mach raised $100 million at a $470 million valuation. Mach Industries 是一家成立三年的国防科技初创公司，由 22 岁的创始人兼首席执行官 Ethan Thornton 领导。该公司周一宣布，已完成 3 亿美元的 C 轮融资，估值达到 18 亿美元。此次融资使该公司的估值在一年内翻了近四倍。2025 年 6 月，Mach 曾以 4.7 亿美元的估值筹集了 1 亿美元。
Other investors include Bedrock Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures. The round was led by deep tech fund Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital, known for fintech and lately in hot deals everywhere — from AI coding startups like Cognition to neoclouds like Crusoe. 其他投资者包括 Bedrock Capital、红杉资本（Sequoia Capital）和 Khosla Ventures。本轮融资由深科技基金 Infinite Capital 和 Ribbit Capital 领投。Ribbit Capital 以金融科技投资闻名，近期在各类热门交易中频频现身——从 AI 编程初创公司 Cognition 到新型云服务商 Crusoe，均有其身影。
Since building autonomous weapons is a capital-intensive industry, Thornton began actively fundraising a couple of months ago, he told TechCrunch, and quickly discovered that the round would be popular with investors. “We went out to raise 200 [million dollars] and we were extremely oversubscribed at 200 and happy with the price, so we decided to push up to 300. We’re still oversubscribed at the 300 mark,” Thornton said of the fundraising efforts. Thornton 在接受 TechCrunch 采访时表示，由于制造自主武器是一个资本密集型行业，他几个月前就开始积极筹款，并很快发现这轮融资在投资者中非常受欢迎。“我们最初计划筹集 2 亿美元，结果在 2 亿的额度上获得了极大的超额认购，且我们对定价很满意，因此决定将目标提高到 3 亿美元。即便在 3 亿的额度下，我们依然处于超额认购状态，”Thornton 在谈到融资过程时说道。
Founded in 2023, Mach and its growth have been a wild ride for Thornton, who famously dropped out of MIT at 19 to start the company. VC enthusiasm is high for a few reasons. Other than AI, defense tech is a hot area for investment right now as newfangled autonomous weapons and drone defense systems prove themselves in battle in Ukraine. Mach 成立于 2023 年，对于 19 岁时从麻省理工学院（MIT）退学创业的 Thornton 来说，公司的成长历程堪称一段疯狂的旅程。风险投资人热情高涨有几个原因：除了人工智能，国防科技目前也是一个热门投资领域，因为新型自主武器和无人机防御系统在乌克兰战场上证明了自己的价值。
Mach has also become prolific in its short time. The Huntington Beach, California-based company now has five autonomous vehicles in development: 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; and Pike, intended for launching long-range munitions. Production is expected to begin next year on at least three of these systems, the company says. Mach 在短时间内也展现了高产能力。这家总部位于加利福尼亚州亨廷顿海滩的公司目前有五款自主载具正在研发中：喷气动力垂直起降载具 Viper；能够发射武器的高空滑翔机 Glide；机载监视平台 Stratos；低成本反无人机拦截器 Dart；以及用于发射远程弹药的 Pike。公司表示，其中至少三款系统预计将于明年开始生产。
Plus, just this week, it won a Department of Defense contract to create a new, sixth vehicle that the startup has never discussed publicly, Thornton tells TechCrunch. The contract is from the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop the Navy’s new “runway-independent strike aircraft,” as the startup describes it. This will be for a very large aircraft, Thornton says, that could have applications in the commercial industry, too. 此外，Thornton 告诉 TechCrunch，就在本周，公司还赢得了一份国防部合同，将研发一款此前从未公开讨论过的第六款载具。该合同来自国防创新部门（DIU），旨在开发海军新型“不依赖跑道的攻击机”（据初创公司描述）。Thornton 表示，这将是一款非常大型的飞机，未来也可能在商业领域得到应用。
It has also grown from about a dozen employees in its first year to about 350 employees today, has a 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach, and design and production facilities in a number of other locations. “So by the end of this year, in 2026, we will have brought on four new production facilities,” Thornton said. 公司员工人数也从成立第一年的十几人增长到如今的约 350 人，在亨廷顿海滩拥有 11.5 万平方英尺的制造工厂，并在其他多个地点设有设计和生产设施。“到 2026 年底，我们将新增四处生产设施，”Thornton 说道。
But another reason VCs wrote big checks is that last month, Mach orchestrated an industry coup (excuse the pun) when it acquired solid rocket motor (SRM) startup Exquadrum in a $50 million cash-and-equity deal, as TechCrunch previously reported. It beat out upward of eight other potential buyers, the startup said. There’s an acute shortage of SRMs as drones create unprecedented demand in a market controlled by two of the major prime defense contractors, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Northrop Grumman. The lead times for purchasing can stretch years. 风险投资人愿意开出大额支票的另一个原因是，正如 TechCrunch 此前报道的那样，Mach 上个月完成了一次行业“政变”（双关语），以 5000 万美元的现金加股权交易收购了固体火箭发动机（SRM）初创公司 Exquadrum。该公司表示，他们击败了超过八个潜在买家。由于无人机需求激增，SRM 市场目前极度短缺，而该市场长期由 Aerojet Rocketdyne 和 Northrop Grumman 两大国防承包商控制。采购的前置时间往往长达数年。
With this buy, Mach controls its own destiny for rocket motors and also launched a new commercial business, Mach Energetics, to sell the engines. While Thornton declined to share revenue, he said the current mix is 50/50 between selling to the government and selling to other companies. 通过这次收购，Mach 掌握了火箭发动机的自主权，并推出了名为 Mach Energetics 的新商业部门来销售这些发动机。虽然 Thornton 拒绝透露具体营收，但他表示目前的销售比例是政府订单与商业订单各占一半。
Thornton remembers a moment last year when all the fast growth of the company really hit him. Two years ago, the all-hands meetings were held in the conference room with “like 12 people,” he said. “At our two-year party we had like 200 plus chairs and it was standing-room only.” Still, he said, he’s most proud of the speed of product development. That is, after all, the entire reason for his company and for the defense tech industry. Thornton 回忆起去年某个时刻，公司的高速增长让他感触颇深。他说，两年前，全员大会是在会议室里举行的，当时只有“大约 12 个人”。“在我们的两周年派对上，我们准备了 200 多把椅子，结果还是座无虚席，甚至有人只能站着。”尽管如此，他说他最自豪的还是产品开发的进度。毕竟，这正是他创办公司以及整个国防科技行业存在的全部意义。
The idea with these startups, backed by tech VCs, is to bring faster, more affordable products to the military and related commercial uses, as opposed to the expensive, bespoke offerings that legacy prime defense contractors offer. “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,” Thornton said. 这些由科技风投支持的初创公司的理念是，为军队及相关商业用途提供更快、更实惠的产品，而不是传统大型国防承包商提供的昂贵且定制化的产品。“传统上，制造一台喷气发动机需要四年时间。这在业内几乎是最快的速度了。而我们从零开始组建团队，到喷气发动机点火，只用了大约八个月，”Thornton 说道。