Hermeus raises $350M to build autonomous hypersonic fighters

The raise

Hermeus announced a $350 million financing that it says will accelerate development of what it calls the “fastest unmanned aircraft.” It has been reported that the round values the Los Angeles startup at roughly $1 billion. Investors put $200 million into equity — led by Khosla Ventures and joined by Canaan, Founders Fund, In-Q-Tel and RTX Ventures — while another $150 million was arranged as debt. “If we can finance a large portion of our spend non-dilutively, it’s absolutely the way to do it,” CEO AJ Piplica told TechCrunch.

Engines and partnerships

The company pivoted from building a bespoke engine to modifying Pratt & Whitney’s F100 after courting RTX Ventures, a move executives say sped up testing and helped align Hermeus with Department of Defense demand. “This accelerates us to Mach 5,” president Zach Shore said, framing the change as both tactical and economic: proven propulsion, faster iteration, and closer ties to government customers. Pragmatism — not pure bravado — is the refrain here. Smart play, or necessary compromise?

Testing and talent

Hermeus has been pushing hard on hardware. Last month it flew a demonstrator roughly the size of an F‑16 and says the next iteration will go supersonic, with a third aircraft already in the works. The firm leans into a SpaceX-style build-test-fail-repeat ethos to shave years off traditional aerospace timelines. The emotional heart of the story is human: talent scarcity. “There’s nowhere in the world where companies are building new full-scale aircraft on an annual basis…you have to go make those people,” Piplica said — and the company is hiring, with staff approaching 300.

Context and questions

The round lands amid a rush of capital into defense tech: PitchBook counted roughly $9 billion across 265 VC rounds last year, with corporate investors adding about $2 billion. The money clears an immediate runway for more tests and hiring, but it also surfaces tricky questions about autonomous weapons, export controls, and the industrial base. Can a startup pull off fighter-scale, hypersonic autonomy while satisfying regulators and customers? Ambition — and unease — go hand in hand.

Sources: techcrunch