Global conflicts are awakening governments—and investors—to the importance of modernizing military forces, says Brandon Tseng, the cofounder and president of ShieldAI, a maker of AI-powered drones that announced Thursday that it had raised $1.5 billion in Series G funding at a $12.7 billion valuation.
“We don’t expect growth to slow down,” Tseng said in an interview.
“Countries around the world are modernizing their militaries, and obviously the U.S. has pushed for an increase in defense spend among all of its allies and partners,” Tseng said. “That certainly is in the background as investors think about investing in defense.”
Tseng declined to say whether Shield AI’s V-BAT drones have been deployed in Iran, but noted the company operates “in almost every single conflict zone.”
Shield’s projection of more than 80% revenue this year does not include the acquisition of Aechelon.
The final close of Shield AI’s funding round will also be contingent on approval of the Aechelon acquisition. If the deal fails to clear regulatory hurdles, Tseng said the company would “re-evaluate” the financing with investors.
Aechelon’s platform, which is used across the autonomy sector to simulate battlefield environments and train AI machines, will remain open to other customers following the acquisition, Tseng said.
