Hypersonic weapons startup Castelion is elevating a $350 million Sequence B led by Lightspeed Enterprise Companions and Altimeter Capital, in keeping with sources and paperwork considered by TechCrunch.
The spherical, which values the corporate within the billions, is anticipated to shut in a matter of weeks. A time period sheet has been signed. The brand new spherical comes on the heels of $100 million in Sequence A funding that closed in January. That spherical was composed of about $70 million in fairness and $30 million of debt. Lightspeed additionally led that spherical.
Castelion declined to remark.
It’s notoriously troublesome for nontraditional gamers to interrupt into the sizable authorities protection market, however Castelion has made notable strides because it emerged from stealth in late 2023. The corporate, which was based by former SpaceX executives, needs to remodel the manufacturing of hypersonic missile programs, a crucial nationwide safety expertise.
Regardless of the U.S. Division of Protection’s huge finances, navy leaders are sounding the alarm on China’s capacity to quickly develop and area hypersonics. These weapons journey above Mach 5 — and China’s capabilities are beginning to outpace the USA.
Castelion is proposing an answer. The enterprise takes an identical strategy to SpaceX: construct shortly, check regularly, and vertically combine to drive down prices. It has already received grants and awards from a collection of DoD workplaces, together with the Air Power Analysis Laboratory and the Naval Air Techniques Command. The corporate examined its hypersonic automobile for the primary time within the Mojave Desert in March because it seems to be to show to the federal government that it may well area low-cost hypersonic missiles at scale.
Castelion appeared within the U.S. Military’s fiscal 12 months 2026 finances request revealed in June. Within the finances, the navy department has requested $25 million beneath an initiative known as Venture HX3 to assist the event and testing of an “inexpensive, mass-produced hypersonic weapon” known as Blackbeard Floor Launch (GL). Because the doc explains, Blackbeard GL can have round 80% of the potential of a long-range hypersonic weapon variant presently being developed by aerospace primes. However by the contract, the Military is saying it’s keen to commerce slightly little bit of pace and vary for a lower-cost product.
The forthcoming contract, which is actually a carried out deal as soon as President Trump indicators the finances into legislation, has two phases: The primary will see Castelion ship a “prototype proof-of-concept” that it’s going to reveal in early 2026. If that’s profitable, the second section will embody the supply of 10 prototype missiles in 2027 for added testing utilizing a regular launcher platform known as Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket System. Blackbeard can also be being designed to be appropriate with a brand new launcher system that can have autonomous capabilities.
All of Castelion’s earlier wins with the DoD are a pittance in comparison with the probabilities afforded by the profitable hypersonic-weapons market. If the Military area testing goes properly, Castelion may ink a bigger contract and start delivering Blackbeard missiles in early 2028.
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman could need to watch their backs.
