In a round led by Caffeinated Capital and including 8VC, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Point72 Ventures, Silent Ventures, Overmatch Ventures, Ensemble VC, Cubit Capital, and the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund, Saronic, a startup building autonomous ships for defense, has raised $55 million.
Former Navy SEAL and Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas founded the business last year intending to produce autonomous surface ships for the Navy and other defense customers with American allegiance.
Even if the field is not only concerned with defense, autonomous seagoing vessels are on the rise. Saildrone, which unveiled its autonomous research vessel last spring, has secured well over $100 million in venture money. In the meantime, Y Combinator-backed businesses like Shone are developing technology to equip current ships with autonomous navigation skills.
According to Mavrookas, Saronic constructs autonomous boats from the ground up. The 6-foot Spyglass and the 13-foot Cutlass are two ships that Saronic is currently designing. Both are equipped with remotely updatable software and can carry “diverse” payloads even in connectivity dead zones. These must have impressed the Navy since according to Mavrookas, Saronic has already entered into two R&D contracts with the marine service department.
Recently, my coworkers Anna Heim and Connie Loizos wrote about how VC firms are creating a torrent of defense technology. Defense technology hasn’t always attracted the same level of venture financing as other sectors. But things started to shift last year when U.S.-based defense tech startups attracted a total of $2.1 billion across 53 deals, including the $1.5 billion Series E financing of the defense company Anduril.
The pace of progress is not slowing. Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, has funded the “defense AI” business Helsing, which recently set a record for European AI startups by obtaining a $223 million Series A round. B. Castelion received a $14.2 million first round of funding to mass-produce defense hardware beginning with hypersonics. A $335 million valuation netted Mach Industries, a startup in the defense industry, $79 million.
The current conflict in Ukraine is one of many geopolitical causes that are fueling the growth. Due to recently implemented export controls and regulations that prevent investors from the United States from funding crucial technology, some startup sectors in China are no longer as appealing as they previously were. Additionally, the US government and its allies actively encourage investments in semiconductors and broader industrial growth through laws like the CHIPS and Science Act and funds like the defense alliance’s NATO’s $1 billion startup tranche.
The weather is in Saronic’s favor. However, the firm is also competing on its own merits, according to Mavrookas.
According to Mavrookas, “Saronic is unlike any other company in the maritime autonomy space — our competitors are mainly boat builders attempting to be technology companies.” “Autonomy at sea has special difficulties. Fixed positions and stable distances, which are constants for space, land, and air autonomy, are unreliable on the constantly altering ocean surface. A technology business called Saronic uses autonomous boats to distribute capabilities. With about 45 people, Austin, Texas-based Saronic has so far attracted about $70 million in venture funding.
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