Mach Industries finalises USD100 million Series B funding round

Mach Industries' Viper VTOL air vehicle. (Mach Industries)

Mach Industries has successfully closed its USD100 million Series B funding round, which was “led by Khosla Ventures and Bedrock, with participation from Sequoia Capital and existing investors”, according to a company statement on 17 June. Series B focuses on growing a company to meet increased demand developed during the Series A round.

“This funding will primarily be directed at the build-out of new facilities,” Ethan Thornton, CEO of Mach Industries, told Janes on 23 June, noting that the company's first manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach, California, has been largely completed. He declined to comment on the capacity of the facility.

It will also support a new factory for Mach Propulsion, Mach Industries' new tactical propulsion business, although the site has not yet been selected, Thornton said.

The funding will enable “full productisation and completed development” for the Viper unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) strike aircraft, Glide high-altitude glide munition, and Stratos stratospheric balloon platform, as well as initial development of a new generation of platforms, according to Thornton. This includes upgrading Stratos and offering another Viper variant, he added.

The successful development of its initial products and a US Army contract to develop the Viper strike aircraft laid the groundwork for the Series B milestone, Thornton noted. Mach Industries has also partnered with Heven Drones to produce aircraft at its Huntington Beach facility.

Manufacturing

Mach Industries says it is “building a vertically integrated, full-stack industrial base for the era of unmanned warfare” through its decentralised Forge manufacturing platform. This “distributed model is designed for operational resilience and rapid iteration, ensuring the US and its allies can field next-generation systems when and where they're needed most”, the statement said.