Company
Venture-backed US defense startup building low-cost, mass-producible hypersonic strike weapons, including the Blackbeard missile, for the US military.
Castelion posted the first public image of Blackbeard firing from a truck, a hypersonic missile aimed at about 80% of PrSM Increment 4's capability for less. Whether it fits the Army's existing rocket launchers is still a planned step that the photo cannot confirm.
Reality
The hypersonic missile maker raised $1bn to build a high-rate production line in New Mexico. The disclosed contract book is 26 times smaller than the valuation.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishersReality
Crunchbase put the chipmaker among August's highest-spending lead investors on $1.3 billion of led rounds, a total built from Poolside's $1 billion and Volta's $300 million, and Andreessen Horowitz is credited with that same Volta round.
Reality
A $13B valuation on $500M of booked military contracts, co-led by a bank, a buyout firm and a venture fund, is what defense industrial capital looks like when it stops being venture capital.
Perspective Coverage
4 publishersReality
Two closes three days apart put $2.85bn of fresh commitments behind the AI stack. The question for anyone raising is which of a16z's two vehicles turns up, because their mandates now overlap at the growth stage.
Reality