Hanwha Aerospace, L3Harris anchor Shield AI’s $240 mn funding

South Korean defense company Hanwha Aerospace Co. and US weapons systems developer L3Harris Technologies Inc. have led a $240 million funding round for Shield AI, a San Diego-based startup specializing in autonomous systems and defense aircraft technology.

Shield AI announced on Thursday it has completed the fundraising at a valuation of $5.3 billion.

Hanwha Aerospace and L3Harris participated as strategic investors, alongside Shield AI’s existing financial backers, including Andreessen Horowitz, US Innovative Technology and Washington Harbour Partners.

“The funds will enable Shield AI to expand the deployment of Hivemind Enterprise to OEMs, governments and companies, empowering the broader robotics and drone industrial base to develop autonomy products,” Shield AI said in the press release.

Hivemind Enterprise refers to Shield AI’s autonomy software suite designed for developers and organizations to build, test, evaluate and deploy intelligent autonomous systems.

“The same tools that make up Hivemind Enterprise have already enabled Shield AI to autonomously fly F-16s, MQ-20s . . . and have quadcopters explore buildings and tunnels for US and Israeli forces,” the company added.

The investment is expected to support Hanwha Aerospace’s expansion into the unmanned  military aircraft sector. In 2024, Hanwha Group established a dedicated task force to develop military drones and autonomous aircraft

Industrial observers say Shield AI’s software could be integrated into Hanwha’s future unmanned aircraft platforms.

Write to Yeonhee Kim at yhkim@hankyung.com
Joel Levin edited this article.