Mach Industries, the fast-growing defense technology startup founded by MIT dropout Ethan Thornton, has successfully closed a $100 million funding round. Led by new investor Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures and joined by returning investors Geoff Lewis of Bedrock Capital and Sequoia Capital, the latest investment values the two-year-old company at $470 million. This brings Mach Industries’ total funding raised to approximately $185 million since its inception in 2023.
While impressive, the new valuation represents only a modest increase from the company’s previous funding round, which occurred in October 2023, when investors gave Mach a valuation of around $335 million. The relatively minor $35 million incremental increase over the past eighteen months suggests a tempered enthusiasm among investors compared to earlier stages.
Still, Mach Industries continues to gain remarkable momentum within the defense tech industry. Thornton founded the company when he was just nineteen years old, abandoning his studies at MIT to fully dedicate his efforts to Mach. Early funding came swiftly, with a $5.7 million seed round from Sequoia investors Stephanie Zhan and Shaun Maguire in mid-2023, followed shortly afterward by a sizable $79 million series A funding round led by Geoff Lewis.
In under two years, Mach Industries has expanded rapidly. Thornton reported the company has grown from around twenty employees last year to a current headcount of approximately 140. Its innovation pipeline includes three advanced weapon systems: the “Viper,” an ultra-light jet-powered vertical takeoff drone requiring no runways; the “Glide,” a high-altitude glider capable of long-range precision strikes; and the “Stratos,” a high-altitude platform featuring advance surveillance and communication technologies.
The startup has also secured significant military partnerships and infrastructure commitments. Among these achievements is a contract awarded by the U.S. Army Applications Laboratory earlier this year to develop a precision-guided vertical launch cruise missile. Mach is presently establishing its first manufacturing facility—a 115,000-square-foot factory located in Huntington Beach, California.
According to Thornton, the company’s primary ambition is to build next-generation weapons capable of precise strikes over unprecedented distances to support evolving defense needs in a rapidly changing global landscape. He cited recent AI-powered drone attacks, such as Ukraine’s “Spider Web” assaults against Russian bombers, as indicative of the future combat scenarios for which Mach’s designs are optimized.
Reflecting on the rapid trajectory of Mach Industries from its earliest days to now, Thornton recalled humble beginnings marked by an initial shortage of resources. He recounted how he and fellow co-founder Ashton Bennett personally built their first office furniture from plywood and lumber bought directly from Home Depot during the company’s initial days in a modest Cambridge, Massachusetts, workspace. Today, though Mach employs professionals from leading defense organizations and industry veterans, Thornton insists his team has maintained the startup’s scrappy, determined entrepreneurial spirit.
Recognizing the sensitivity and responsibility inherent in creating advanced weapons in a climate marked by geopolitical tension and accelerated technology advancements, Thornton emphasized that Mach engages regularly with decision-makers across various U.S. government agencies, including the Pentagon, the State Department, and congressional representatives.
With the infusion of new capital, Mach intends to scale up manufacturing operations and rapidly develop additional products currently in research and development. Although Thornton did not disclose specifics, he hinted these projects involve innovative propulsion technologies poised to enhance Mach’s technological leadership significantly.
