Startups Venture

Weapons Startup Castelion Strikes $100M Series A

Illustration of people building a rocket ship.

Castelion, a defense manufacturer developing long-range hypersonic strike weapons, raised a $100 million Series A in a mix of debt and equity.

The El Segundo, California-based startup creates what it calls “affordable, mass-produced hypersonic long-range strike weapons” that serve as a “non-nuclear deterrent.”

The Series A — which includes $30 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank — was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Lavrock Ventures, Cantos, First In Ventures, BlueYard Capital and Interlagos.

The deal is just the latest in the defense tech sector for a16z. Last year, the firm led a $175 million Series B for autonomous surface vessels maker Saronic at a $1 billion valuation. The company also is an investor in defense tech giant Anduril Industries.

Big money for defense

Defense tech has garnered major headlines in the past several months after massive raises by the likes of Anduril and artificial intelligence defense software developer Helsing.

Just late last year, defense and critical infrastructure tech startup Chaos Industries raised $145 million in a Series B.

Already this year, Firehawk Aerospace raised a $60 million Series C and Onebrief locked up a $50 million Series B.

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Illustration: Dom Guzman

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