Defense manufacturing startup Hadrian closes $260 million funding round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund

CNBC

4 days ago

Defense manufacturing startup Hadrian on Thursday announced the closing of $260 million Series C funding round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Lux Capital.
The machine parts company said it will use the funding to build a new 270,000 square foot factory in Mesa, Arizona, and expand its Torrance, California, location as it looks to beef up its shipbuilding and naval defense capabilities.
"What we really need in this country is this quantum leap above China's manufacturing model," said CEO Chris Power in an interview with CNBC's Morgan Brennan. "It's about supercharging the worker versus replacing them."
Defense tech startups like Hadrian are disrupting the mainstay defense contracting industry, which is led by leaders such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, and battling it out to boost U.S. defense production while scooping up Department of Defense contracts.
Hadrian said the Arizona space will be four times the size of its California facility and start operations by Christmas. The factory will create 350 local jobs. The Hawthrone, California-based company said it is working on four to five new facilities to support production over the next year to support Department of Defense needs.
Hadrian said it uses robotics and artificial intelligence to automate factories that can "supercharge American workers."
Power said demand is rapidly growing, but the lack of U.S.-based talent is a major hurdle to building American dominance in shipbuilding and submarines.
Using its tools, the company said it can train workers within 30 days, making them 10 times more productive. Its workforce includes ex-marines and former nurses who have never set foot in a factory.
"We have to do a lot more ... but certainly we're able to keep up with the scale right now, and grateful to our team and customers for letting us go and do that," he said. "As a country, we have to treat this like a national security crisis, not just the economics of manufacturing."
The fresh raise also includes investments from Andreessen Horowitz and new stakeholders such as Brad Gerstner's Altimeter Capital.
The company closed a $92 million funding round in late 2023.