Torrance-based defense technology startup Castelion has closed a $1 billion Series C financing round at a $13 billion valuation, giving the four-year-old company one of the largest private raises ever recorded in the U.S. weapons industry. Announced on August 19, 2026, the round will bankroll industrial-rate production of Blackbeard, Castelion's low-cost hypersonic strike missile, and fund the development of longer-range strike and defensive systems.
How the $1 billion is structured
The financing combines $800 million of equity with $250 million in committed financing for a revolving credit facility. JPMorgan Chase's Strategic Investment Group co-led the equity round alongside Andreessen Horowitz and funds managed by Carlyle. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lavrock Ventures, Altimeter, General Catalyst and Interlagos also participated, and T. Rowe Price Associates joined as a new investor.
“Deterrence depends on unapologetic American strength — highly capable weapon systems that adversaries fear, produced in quantities they can't imagine at a price taxpayers can afford,” said co-founder and CEO Bryon Hargis. “There's a manufacturing renaissance underway and this round turbocharges American production of Blackbeard.”
Project Ranger and the Blackbeard program
Castelion said much of the new capital will pour into Project Ranger, its 1,000-acre campus in Sandoval County, New Mexico, which the company calls the largest dedicated hypersonic missile manufacturing facility in the United States. Castelion has already committed more than $250 million of its own money to build the site and plans to spend hundreds of millions more to expand Blackbeard capacity.
Blackbeard went from a clean-sheet design to a program of record in under four years and is on track for operational fielding in 2027. The company has racked up more than $500 million in U.S. military contracts over the past 18 months, including a Department of War framework agreement to build 500 missiles per year and a $23.4 million Navy delivery order for the first 50 pre-production prototypes.
A crowded, well-capitalized affordable-strike race
Castelion's Series C lands as private capital pours into low-cost, high-volume U.S. munitions and airframes. Earlier this month Cambridge Aerospace closed a $300 million Series C at $3.4 billion to mass-produce its Skyhammer weapon, and the U.S. Army locked in $117 million with AeroVironment for 82 P550 reconnaissance drones. Castelion has also lined up more exotic launch modes: it plans to demonstrate a Blackbeard shot from a Saronic unmanned surface vessel in 2027, extending its addressable market beyond air- and land-launched roles into distributed maritime hypersonics.
Reporting based on coverage from PR Newswire, Defence Industry Europe and Castelion.