That means that this raise represents a two-fold jump in just three months. The previous round was also a big increase: quadruple the valuation of , announced in June 2025.
Mach manufactures a variety of unmanned military vehicles and weapons, including vertical takeoff and landing drones, systems intended for long-range strikes, and counter-drone systems. It operates a 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at its headquarters of Huntington Beach, California, with additional facilities located across the state.
Its pitch is that it builds highly integrated systems that cost less than those from incumbent defense contractors. To that end, it in a $50 million cash-and-equity deal in May, beating out at least eight other potential buyers, the startup said.
The rise of drones has created a shortage of SRMs in a market largely controlled by two incumbents. Exquadrum was Mach’s answer to that bottleneck. The acquisition has since become the basis for a new line of business for the company called Mach Energetics, which produces SRMs as well as jet engines and energetic systems for others.
Mach, founded and run by 22-year-old Ethan Thornton, is a quintessential example of the kind of defense tech startup that classic Silicon Valley VCs are spending big on. Thornton dropped out of MIT at age 19 to work on Mach and soon landed Sequoia’s Stephanie Zhan and Shaun Maguire as investors, marking the first defense tech investment for the venerable venture firm.
After the company also caught the attention of Ribbit Capital, once best known as a fintech investor but more recently involved in a string of high-profile AI deals, ranging from coding startups like to .