Mach Industries, a defense technology startup, has emerged as one of the sector’s standout stories, becoming the first venture in the defense tech space to attract investment from Sequoia Capital. Since its inception in 2023, the startup has raised over $80 million in funding, catapulting its young founder, Ethan Thornton, into the spotlight.
Now 21, Thornton was still a teenage student at MIT when he founded Mach Industries. He ultimately left the renowned institution to concentrate fully on the growth and development of his startup. However, just months before securing his seed investment from Sequoia in the summer of 2023, Mach Industries experienced a significant setback. While developing an early prototype—a hydrogen-powered projectile weapon—an explosion occurred, scattering hundreds of shards of shrapnel and injuring one of the team members.
Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time during a recent appearance at StrictlyVC in San Francisco, Thornton attributed the accident to inadequate safety measures stemming from a lack of financial resources. At the time, the company was self-funded and thus struggled to implement the necessary safety protocols.
Following the accident, Thornton decided to halt all active development at Mach Industries until fresh funding was available. With Sequoia’s financial backing secured, the company has now significantly improved its safety standards and built a fully staffed safety department. It is now collaborating directly with the U.S. military to design and prototype advanced weapon systems.
Thornton admitted that the initial focus on hydrogen-powered technology was “probably a bad tech bet,” acknowledging the gas’s well-known volatility and the extensive additional research needed to make it practical and safe.
Since pivoting away from hydrogen, Mach Industries has expanded its ambitions. The firm is currently developing several entirely new weapon concepts, including an advanced cruise missile and an innovative ordinance named “Glide,” which has the capability to be launched from the borderline of space. Additionally, the young startup recently won its first major U.S. Army contract and announced plans to establish “Forge,” a network of decentralized manufacturing facilities.
Thornton credits the rapid build-out and stringent prototyping cycle as central to Mach’s appeal to investors, highlighting that the $85 million raised thus far reflects not only faith in his ability as an engineer but trust in the startup’s capability to collaborate effectively with government agencies.
