Hermeus hits unicorn status on new funding
Hermeus, an Atlanta-founded and Los Angeles-headquartered defense startup developing high-speed unmanned aircraft, has raised $350 million in a Series C round that values the company at $1 billion. The company says the fresh capital will help it scale hardware manufacturing and accelerate flight testing as demand grows for faster, more responsive unmanned systems.
Round structure: equity plus debt to limit dilution
The round includes $200 million in equity led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from existing backers including Canaan Partners, Founders Fund, RTX Ventures, Bling Capital, and In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture arm. New equity investors include Cox Enterprises (via its venture fund Socium Ventures), Destiny Tech100, Georgia Tech Foundation, 137 Ventures, and GSBackers.
An additional $150 million in debt financing came from Silicon Valley Bank, Pinegrove Venture Partners, Hercules Capital, and Trinity Capital. The debt component is structured to reduce equity dilution as Hermeus expands production capacity. Total funding now exceeds $500 million.
Quarterhorse test program and the “Darkhorse” defense platform
Founded in 2018 by CEO AJ Piplica, Hermeus is running a sequenced flight test program called Quarterhorse, with each aircraft designed to be faster than the last. The company said Quarterhorse Mk 1 flew subsonically in early 2024 and was developed in roughly 200 days. Quarterhorse Mk 2.1, about the size of an F-16, has completed its second test flight. Next milestones include supersonic flight, followed by targets of Mach 3.3 and eventually Mach 5.
The planned military product, Darkhorse, is positioned as a hypersonic unmanned aircraft for US defense customers. Hermeus differentiates itself by using turbine engines that enable conventional runway takeoffs, a contrast to some alternative approaches in the high-speed aviation market.
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