Hermeus Secures $350 Million, Topping $1 Billion Valuation to Advance Uncrewed High-Speed Aircraft

Hermeus, a Los Angeles-based defense technology company, announced Tuesday it has closed a $350 million financing that lifts the startup’s valuation to about $1 billion. The package includes $200 million in new equity led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from returning backers such as Canaan Partners, Founders Fund, In-Q-Tel and RTX Ventures, and fresh capital from Cox Enterprises’ venture arm and the publicly traded Destiny Tech100. The balance — roughly $150 million — is structured as debt, a move the company said will let it fund heavy hardware and factory expansion without diluting existing stakeholders.

Company leaders said the mix of equity and credit reflects an emphasis on scaling production of uncrewed, very-high-speed aircraft while keeping more control at the board level. Hermeus co-founder and chief executive AJ Piplica told reporters the debt portion is intended to underwrite manufacturing outlays and accelerate testing without surrendering additional ownership. Company president Zach Shore said the funding will also help satisfy near-term orders from the U.S. defense establishment while supporting longer-term engineering goals.

A key technical shift in recent years helped Hermeus attract capital, executives said. Rather than persisting with a proprietary propulsion system, the firm struck a collaboration with Pratt & Whitney, a unit of RTX, to adapt an existing F100-class jet engine for high-Mach flight. That decision — trading a full custom-build route for a modified, flight-proven powerplant — shortened development cycles and opened pathways to more rapid flight testing and government contracts, the company said.

Hermeus has moved quickly on prototypes. In March it flew a demonstrator roughly the size of a retired fighter jet, and company officials say the next version will aim to break the sound barrier. A smaller demonstrator flew last year. The firm follows an iterative build-and-test method more common in the commercial space sector than in traditional aviation, prioritizing frequent hardware cycles to reveal problems early. Piplica acknowledged that this approach accepts the possibility of failures as part of progress and said the company is designing tests to contain risk while learning fast.

The growth plan calls for hiring: Hermeus now approaches 300 employees and expects to add engineers and manufacturing staff as it scales. Outside analysts said the round signals continued investor appetite for defense startups, where venture and corporate money flowed strongly last year. Industry data showed about nine billion dollars moved into defense technology over roughly 265 financings globally in the previous year, with corporations putting in about two billion dollars across several dozen deals — trends that market observers say are reshaping procurement pathways and vendor ecosystems.

A defense industry analyst interviewed for this story suggested Hermeus’ model — leveraging an incumbent engine maker while pursuing rapid prototype cycles — could shorten timelines for fielding new capabilities, but added that workforce development will be a limiting factor. “You can design around technical risk, but a shortage of engineers experienced in full-scale aircraft builds will slow cadence,” the analyst said. Editor’s note: Earlier coverage misstated the nature of Hermeus’ aircraft; they are unmanned (remotely operated), not autonomous.