Castelion is elevating a $350M Collection B to scale hypersonic missile enterprise
Hypersonic weapons startup Castelion is elevating a $350 million Collection B led by Lightspeed Enterprise Companions and Altimeter Capital, in accordance 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 Collection 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 non-traditional 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, desires to remodel the manufacturing of hypersonic missile methods, a crucial nationwide safety know-how.
Regardless of the U.S. Division of Protection’s huge price range, navy leaders are sounding the alarm on China’s capacity to quickly develop and discipline 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 analogous strategy to SpaceX: construct rapidly, check continuously, and vertically combine to drive down prices. It has already gained grants and awards from a set of DoD workplaces, together with the Air Power Analysis Laboratory and the Naval Air System Command. The corporate examined its hypersonic car for the primary time within the Mojave Desert in March because it seems to show to the federal government that it could possibly discipline low-cost hypersonic missiles at scale.
Castelion appeared within the U.S. Military’s fiscal yr 2026 price range request revealed in June. Within the price range, the navy department has requested $25 million beneath an initiative known as Undertaking HX3 to help the event and testing of an “inexpensive, mass-produced hypersonic weapon” known as Blackbeard Floor Launch (GL). Because the doc explains, Blackbeard GL may have round 80% of the aptitude of a long-range hypersonic weapon variant at the moment being developed by aerospace primes. However via the contract, the Military is saying it’s keen to commerce a bit of little bit of pace and vary for a lower-cost product.
The forthcoming contract, which is actually a accomplished deal as soon as President Trump indicators the price range 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 part will embrace the supply of 10 prototype missiles in 2027 for extra testing utilizing a typical 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 may have autonomous capabilities.
All of Castelion’s earlier wins with the DoD are a pittance in comparison with the chances afforded by the profitable hypersonic-weapons market. If the Military discipline testing goes effectively, Castelion might ink a bigger contract and start delivering Blackbeard missiles in early 2028.
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman could need to watch their backs.