Mach Industries Reaches $1.8 Billion Valuation After Rapid Growth Over the Past Year

Mach Industries, the defence technology startup founded three years ago by 22-year-old CEO Ethan Thornton, has secured a $300 million Series C funding round at a $1.8 billion valuation, the company announced Monday.

The new financing represents a dramatic increase in the company’s value. Just a year ago, in June 2025, Mach Industries raised $100 million at a $470 million valuation. Existing investors include Bedrock Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures.

The latest round was led by deep-tech investor Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital, a firm best known for fintech investments but increasingly active in high-profile technology deals, including AI coding company Cognition and cloud infrastructure provider Crusoe.

Because autonomous weapons development requires substantial capital, Thornton said the company began exploring fundraising opportunities several months ago. Interest from investors quickly exceeded expectations.

“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.

Founded in 2023, Mach Industries has experienced rapid growth under Thornton, who left MIT at age 19 to launch the company. Investor enthusiasm has been fueled by growing interest in defence technology, particularly as autonomous weapons systems and drone-defence platforms continue to demonstrate their effectiveness in Ukraine.

The Huntington Beach, California-based company currently has five autonomous systems under development. These include Viper, a jet-powered vertical takeoff aircraft; Glide, a high-altitude platform capable of deploying weapons; Stratos, an airborne surveillance system; Dart, a low-cost counter-drone interceptor; and Pike, a vehicle designed to launch long-range munitions. According to the company, production is expected to begin next year on at least three of those platforms.

Mach also recently secured a Department of Defence contract to develop an entirely new aircraft that has not been publicly disclosed. Thornton said the project is being developed through the Defence Innovation Unit (DIU) as part of the Navy’s effort to create a new “runway-independent strike aircraft.”

According to Thornton, the aircraft will be significantly larger than the company’s current platforms and could eventually have applications beyond the defence sector, including commercial markets.

The company’s growth has extended beyond products. Mach has expanded from roughly a dozen employees during its first year to around 350 employees today. It operates a 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach and maintains additional design and production sites in several locations.

“So by the end of this year, in 2026, we will have brought on four new production facilities,” Thornton said.

Another factor behind investor interest was Mach’s acquisition of the solid-rocket-motor startup Exquadrum last month. The deal, valued at $50 million in cash and equity, reportedly beat out more than eight other interested buyers.

Demand for solid rocket motors has surged as drones become increasingly important in modern warfare, creating supply shortages in a market largely controlled by major defence contractors Aerojet Rocketdyne and Northrop Grumman. In some cases, procurement lead times can stretch for years.

The acquisition gives Mach direct control over a critical component of its supply chain while also creating a new commercial division, Mach Energetics, which will sell rocket motors to outside customers. Although Thornton declined to disclose revenue figures, he said the company’s business is currently split evenly between government contracts and sales to private-sector customers.

Thornton recalled a moment last year when the company’s growth became especially clear. Two years earlier, company-wide meetings were held in a conference room with “like 12 people,” he said. “At our two-year party, we had like0200-pluss chairs, and it was standing-room only.”

Despite the rapid expansion, Thornton said he remains most proud of the company’s speed of execution. Accelerating product development is central to Mach’s mission and to the broader defence-tech movement, which aims to provide faster and more affordable alternatives to the custom-built systems traditionally supplied by large defence contractors.

“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.