Latest news with #EthanThornton
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MIT Dropout Ethan Thornton Secures $100M For Mach Industries, Backed By Sequoia And Khosla, To Revolutionize U.S. Defense Tech
At just 21 years old, Ethan Thornton is rewriting the rules of modern warfare. He's the founder and CEO of Mach Industries, a fast-rising defense tech startup that's just secured $100 million in new funding, co-led by and Bedrock Capital, with continued support from Sequoia Capital. This brings Mach's total raised capital to around $185 million, and the company's valuation now hovers around $470 million, according to TechCrunch. Thornton left MIT to focus on Mach full-time, TechCrunch reported, but the company's origins trace back to his high school years, where he operated a wood and metal workshop to bootstrap initial prototypes. Don't Miss: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — The Huntington Beach, California-based startup is aiming to revolutionize both defense hardware and the way it's made. According to TechCrunch, rather than relying on traditional centralized weapons factories, Mach is building 'Forge 1,' a 115,000-square-foot facility in Southern California designed to manufacture its most advanced products. Forge 1 represents the first step in Mach's broader vision to establish a network of decentralized micro-factories across the U.S. and internationally, each designed to manage the full production process from raw materials to final assembly, TechCrunch reports. Trending: Donald Trump just announced a $500 billion AI infrastructure deal — . This distributed approach is part of Thornton's vision to build a resilient national defense infrastructure, capable of withstanding geopolitical shocks and supply chain disruptions. "Instead of very centralized factories, we will build many, many smaller factories to actually have a survival defense industrial base," he told TechCrunch. The factories will be designed to take raw materials through final assembly. According to a company statement on March 18, Mach entered into a partnership with Heven Drones, which will use Forge 1 to assemble and scale unmanned aerial systems. Mach's product lineup includes Viper, a jet-powered vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle that doesn't require a runway and is up to 300 times cheaper to build than traditional drones. It also builds Glide, a weapon launched from near-space altitudes to increase strike range and reduce the chance of interception. The company claims it could potentially hit any target on Earth without being detected, TechCrunch reports. Recently, Mach revealed it had been selected by the U.S. Army Applications Laboratory to develop Strategic Strike, a next-generation cruise missile with vertical takeoff capabilities. Initial flight tests have already passed, marking a major milestone in the company's path to building deployable battlefield systems, according to became a breakout name in defense circles after being Sequoia Capital's first-ever investment in the defense tech sector. The startup's $5.7 million seed round was led by Sequoia's Stephanie Zhan and Shaun Maguire in mid-2023, Reuters reports. According to Tech Startups, that funding was followed in October 2023 by a $79 million Series A led by Bedrock Capital. The most recent round adds Khosla Ventures to the cap table, with investor Keith Rabois leading the deal, TechCrunch reports. Even former Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) recruiter Peterson Conway, known for working with only the most promising startups, now counts Mach among his rare list of clients, TechCrunch writes. With dozens of employees, a U.S. Army contract, and three groundbreaking products already underway, Mach Industries may be shaping up to become the blueprint for the future of American defense. Read Next:Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES (PLTR): Free Stock Analysis Report This article MIT Dropout Ethan Thornton Secures $100M For Mach Industries, Backed By Sequoia And Khosla, To Revolutionize U.S. Defense Tech originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Week in Review: Apple won't raise prices — yet
Welcome back to Week in Review! We've got lots of news for you today: Amazon earnings, Apple earnings, ChatGPT sycophancy, Alibaba's AI models, and much more. Let's get to it! Well? During Apple's earnings call yesterday, Tim Cook revealed that the company paid $900 million in tariffs last quarter. But despite this, the CEO didn't announce any price increases — yet. Big bucks: Defense tech startup Mach Industries, which was founded by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton, is about to close a fresh $100 million in financing, sources told TechCrunch. This new funding should bring the startup's total funding to about $185 million to date. More models: Alibaba announced this week that it's releasing a family of AI models, called Qwen3, that it claims can outperform OpenAI and Google. According to Alibaba, the Qwen3 models are 'hybrid' models, and they're not yet available for download. This is TechCrunch's Week in Review, where we recap the week's biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. Shoot for the stars: Amazon's effort to create a space-based internet network began in earnest this week: The company fired off its first 27 internet satellites on Tuesday. The first half of the network needs to be deployed by mid-2026 to meet the FCC deadline. AI in your pocket: Meta is rolling out a stand-alone AI app, which it unveiled at the company's first LlamaCon event on Tuesday. The app allows users to access Meta AI in an app, similar to the ChatGPT app and other AI assistant apps. Blocked: A judge in India blocked the encrypted email provider Proton Mail across the country. This was in response to a legal complaint filed by New Delhi-based M Moser Design Associates, which alleged that its employees had received emails containing obscene and vulgar content sent via Proton Mail. Cheaters never win: Cluely went viral recently for its bold claim of helping people cheat on everything. But some startups are claiming they can catch Cluely's users. Alexa+: Amazon's new digital assistant aims to let users talk with it in a more natural style and eventually have agentic abilities that allow it to use third-party apps on a user's behalf. During Amazon's earnings call this week, CEO Andy Jassy says that 100,000 users now have Alexa+. AI where it matters: Airbnb seems to be taking a more measured approach with AI. It started rolling out an AI-powered customer service bot in the U.S. last month. CEO Brian Chesky said in February that the company would use AI for customer service before it started implementing it for other uses like travel planning or booking tickets. Epic ruling: Epic Games has notched a win in an ongoing legal dispute with Apple. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in a ruling that Apple was in "willful violation" of a 2021 injunction that prohibited the company from imposing anticompetitive pricing. As a result, Fortnite could be back on iPhones as soon as next week. LOL: Following the Epic Games ruling, Stripe shared documentation that shows iOS developers how to avoid the Apple commission. Check your settings: Meta emailed Ray-Ban Meta owners on Tuesday with a notice that AI features will now be enabled on the glasses by default. This means Meta's AI will analyze photos and videos taken with the glasses while certain AI features are switched on. Yikes! OpenAI said it was 'rolling back' the latest update to the default AI model powering ChatGPT, GPT-4o, after complaints about strange behavior, in particular it being overly agreeable and validating. According to OpenAI, the update, which was intended to make the model's default personality 'feel more intuitive and effective,' was informed too much by 'short-term feedback.' Now the company pledges to make changes that would prevent this from happening in the future. Oh the drama: We read through the 80-page Epic v. Apple decision to pull out the judge's juiciest, fieriest comments. Here's one to get you started: "Apple engaged in tactics to delay the proceedings. The Court later concluded that delay equaled profits." Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
16-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Silicon Valley's Military Drone Companies Have A Serious Chinese Parts Problem
Itwas the day after Mach Industries published a slick promotional video for Viper, its new military strike drone, and CEO Ethan Thornton had a problem. A few eagle-eyed viewers of the video, which Thornton had posted to social media proclaiming 'Show, don't tell,' had noticed that the drone used an engine with an uncanny resemblance to one made by a Chinese manufacturer. He'd vehemently denied that there were Chinese components in any of the company's drones. But now Palmer Luckey, CEO of defense tech giant Anduril, had asked him a question with far less wiggle room to answer: 'What about the airframe in the video?' Backed into a corner, Thornton conceded on X: 'We feel comfortable blowing up Chinese components for testing purposes, Palmer,' he replied, confirming the engine's country of origin. (Thornton told Forbes 'all final production units ship without Chinese components'; Anduril and Luckey declined to comment.) The conflict in Ukraine, rising tensions over Taiwan and the dominance of Chinese drone companies like market leader DJI have underscored the need for the U.S. military to source cheap and mass-produced drones from American and allied companies. But Thornton's exchange highlighted an open secret in Silicon Valley: most drone companies answering the Trump administration's America First mandate have a 'Made in China' parts problem. China currently controls close to 90 percent of the global commercial drone market, and manufactures most of the key hardware used to build them – airframes, batteries, radios, cameras and screens, according to market research firm Drone Industry Insights UG. Because of its longstanding reliance on these parts, the U.S. is years behind building the manufacturing infrastructure that could come close to rivaling China's. 'We are almost completely reliant on our major adversary for them, and our ability to make them,' said Josh Steinman, who previously oversaw supply chain security at the National Security Council. It's a reality that seems almost impossible to escape. When Vice President J.D. Vance attended a U.S. Marines drone demonstration for a photo opportunity at Quantico last month, pictures showed him wearing Chinese-made drone display goggles. (Major Hector Infante, who oversees training at Quantico, told Forbes the goggles 'were not military-issued' and insisted they were provided 'solely for viewing purposes'; the White House did not respond.) US Vice President JD Vance wears a Chinese-made Skyzone headset during a tour of the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA. This addiction to Chinese parts has set off alarm bells among military officials. Several American drone companies with Pentagon contracts — including Skydio, one of the largest — are scrambling to rebuild their supply chains after Chinese sanctions cut off access to suppliers. 'China could shut [the drone industry] down globally for a year,' Trent Emeneker, who leads a team at the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit that approves drones for military use, told Forbes. 'It's a national security issue, not just for the United States, but for the global West.' Some drone companies told Forbes the Pentagon's bureaucracy has stunted the American industry's growth. But the presence of Chinese parts has dulled Pentagon enthusiasm to adopt them at scale. For example, military purchases from Orqa, a drone company that pitched itself as 'DJI of the West,' were halted after allegedly banned Chinese components were found in its products. 'Most of the western drone companies still rely on Chinese components,' Orqa's CEO Srdjan Kovacevic told Forbes. (He said Orqa has moved its manufacturing inhouse.) It's the kind of stranglehold that President Donald Trump's tariffs are seemingly designed to break, theoretically encouraging American companies to reduce their reliance on cheaper foreign supply chains and build their own at home. But doing so will take years of research and development and significant investment. Meanwhile, China's retaliatory tariffs are set to make components American drone makers rely on even more expensive; plans to redraft a new export system are already halting shipments of magnets, which are essential for drone motors. 'It's easier to get sanctioned by China' than get Pentagon approval. But regulatory efforts to force the issue, by ending imports of all Chinese drones and parts, have faced strong opposition from Chinese manufacturers and American investors alike. Responding to a proposed Commerce Department measure that is considering banning or restricting Chinese-made drones and components, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — which has backed drone unicorns Anduril, Skydio and Shield AI — called for a more considered response with gradual restrictions on drone parts sales from China, while simultaneously allowing for U.S. companies to continue sourcing components from the country. 'Immediately removing all foreign adversary-based sources of supply for critical drone components would have a catastrophic effect on the American drone industry,' chief legal officer Jai Ramaswamy wrote in response to the Commerce Department last month (the firm declined to comment further). Such a catastrophe might be what's needed, national security experts say. 'You are going to have to pull the bandaid off at some point,' said Steinman. 'And either you are going to choose or [China] will.' Troubled by China's advances in drone tech, the Pentagon made drone acquisitions a major priority in 2023 and announced Replicator, an initiative to fast track production and deliver thousands of mass produced, cheap drones to counter China's arsenal. But the initiative, which is expected to deliver its first drones by August, faces an uncertain future and is one of several that drone companies say don't go far enough to spur adoption. The primary on-ramp to drone contracts is the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which maintains a so-called Blue List of drones that are approved for military use. The list, which is updated annually, is overseen by half a dozen employees who test hundreds of products to ensure they are free of Chinese components banned under the National Defense Authorization Act, like cameras, flight controllers, radios and ground control systems — mostly components that transmit a signal and could be tampered with. Companies big (Anduril) and small (Neros) have been included on the Blue List. But some drone manufacturers say it has become another bottleneck that stifles the industry. This year, just 23 companies were approved out of more than 300 submissions. San Antonio-based Darkhive was among the companies expecting to be included. After waiting for months, it learned its quadcopters hadn't been approved when DIU issued a press release announcing the list in February. 'There was no follow up apart from, 'try again next year,'' CEO John Goodson told Forbes. (Darkhive maintains several Pentagon contracts through other mechanisms.) Another company, BRINC, which has more than 700 law enforcement and public safety customers, and this month announced a $75 million funding round led by Index Ventures, was sanctioned by China last year after it attended a sales trip to Taiwan organized by the U.S. government. It didn't make the Blue List either, and has now shifted away from its military business to focus on public safety contracts. 'It's easier to get sanctioned by the [People's Republic of China] than it is to get on the Blue List,' said Andrew Cote, BRINC's head of strategy and growth. In December, the Pentagon halted use of drones sold by Croatia-based Orqa — which pitched itself as a Replicator solution and a 'one-stop shop' for China-free components — after DIU discovered radio modules that were made in China and allegedly ran afoul of NDAA requirements, according to the company and multiple sources familiar with the matter. In addition, DIU learned that Orqa had acquired a China-based company in 2022. 'Until DJI is entirely banned, there's not enough market to stand up a U.S. industrial base.' In response to questions, Orqa CEO Kovacevic acknowledged the modules were assembled in China, but claimed the underlying chips were made in Taiwan and Europe, and disputed that they were critical components; he said the company now makes its own modules. As for the China-based subsidiary, he claimed its operations were moved to Europe after the acquisition — except for one product unrelated to drones that is still manufactured in China. Orqa had all of its submissions to the Blue List rejected. 'What we previously thought were transparent rules, are obviously subject to very creative interpretations,' Kovacevic said. 'There's no transparency whatsoever to the process.' The DIU's Emeneker, who oversees the Blue List, isn't having it. 'Companies don't get to decide what is and is not legal under the law,' he noted. He added that the results of the recent list refresh were made in accordance with law. 'There are always edge cases and hard decisions to make,' he said. 'But the process was standardized and designed to provide the best options to the warfighter.' The Pentagon bans on Chinese components don't extend to parts like airframes, engines and batteries, but relying on them can still be risky. In October, America got a peek at what a worst case scenario might look like when China sanctioned military contractor Skydio, cutting off the battery supply for America's largest small drone maker, which has raised more than $850 million from investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Accel. The company said it wouldn't be able to secure new suppliers until this spring, and would be forced to ration batteries. 'If there was ever any doubt, this action makes clear that the Chinese government will use supply chains as a weapon to advance their interests over ours,' Skydio said in a statement at the time. Six months later, the company has yet to announce a new supplier; it did not respond to a request for comment. More than a dozen other drone companies vying for Pentagon contracts — including Anduril, Shield AI, Firestorm, CyberLux and Neros — have now been sanctioned by China. Some say it hasn't impacted their operations. Lily Hinz, a spokesperson for Shield AI, said the company doesn't use Chinese parts, and isn't 'feeling the impact' of the sanctions. Dan Magy, the CEO of Firestorm, said his company's drones don't contain Chinese parts, and called the sanctions 'a badge of honor.' Anduril, which previously welcomed the sanctions, declined to comment. But other drone makers have had to make changes. CyberLux CEO Mark Schmidt told Forbes his company was 'pro-actively shifting away from Chinese components…and scaling its North American suppliers on the production of critical parts.' He declined to comment on the related costs and timeline. Even California-based Neros, which designs and manufactures most of the critical parts for its $2,000 drones in-house, felt some pain from the December sanctions. Flush with a $35 million funding round backed by Sequoia, the company still relies on some Chinese parts. 'Getting these components has been more challenging,' said CTO Olaf Hichwa. 'But this is a good forcing function to become completely free of Chinese parts.' Military leaders, national security experts and the drone industry all seem to agree on one thing: building a China-free supply of drones relies on expelling DJI from the U.S. The Shenzhen-based company, which became the world's largest drone maker thanks to heavy subsidies from the Chinese government and funding from American venture capital firms Accel Partners, Kleiner Perkins and the former China-based arm of Sequoia, is the most ubiquitous drone seller in America, and one of the largest suppliers of drones to farmers and police departments. 'Until DJI is entirely banned, there's not enough market to stand up a U.S. industrial base,' said Nathan Ecelbarger, chairman of the U.S. National Drone Association, which aims to speed up military adoption of drones. But DJI has so far mounted a successful campaign to dodge efforts to ban its drones. It has protested the proposed Commerce Department rule to ban imports of Chinese drones and parts, calling it a move that would 'significantly harm a number of U.S. stakeholders.' In October, it sued the Defense Department insisting it is not a national security threat, and it lobbied against a legislative measure that would have banned its products from entering the U.S., disclosures show. 'DJI has been unfairly targeted due to its national origins,' the company said in a statement to Forbes. In December, the legislative ban on DJI's products was dropped from the annual military spending bill. DJI was free to continue shipping. In a statement at the time, the company thanked those who had supported its efforts to kill the ban — top among them, its American customers. 'Your support made a real difference,' DJI said. 'Congressional offices paid attention and listened to what you had to say.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US defense firm fights ‘Made in China' engine claim on new cruise missile
Controversy has erupted regarding whether Mach Industries, a U.S. defense contractor, could be using Chinese jet technology for at least one of its products. This claim follows a recent promotional video on social media, its latest vertical take-off cruise missile - "Viper". The video was published on March 5, and soon after allegations began to appear, the weapon system seemed to be powered using what appeared to be very similar to a Chinese-made Swiwin SW800 Pro engine. In the video, the missile system can be seen taking off vertically before diving toward a target, much the same way a kamikaze drone operates. The video also highlighted that the missile is primarily 3D-printed. Company representatives have since denied such claims. On March 6, the company's founder responded to the claims in the strongest terms. 'A few people have mentioned the engine, so I figured I'd touch on it. The Viper ships with a JetCat; there are no Chinese components on any of our airframes,' he wrote in a social media post. Mach Industries was founded in 2022 by Ethan Thornton. Since then, this next-generation defense technology and manufacturing company has been making headlines. Just one day before the video's release, the company announced that it had been selected by the Army Applications Laboratory to develop a vertical take-off precision cruise missile dubbed 'Strategic Strike." According to Mach Industries, its strategic strike cruise missile boasts a range of 180 miles (290 km) and can carry a warhead exceeding 22 pounds (10kg). It also reported that AI-powered visual recognition and radio frequency (RF) sensing technologies benefit the system. As comments continued comparing the JetCat engine with the Swiwin SW800 Pro, he replied, "As for the airframe in the video, we feel comfortable blowing up Chinese components for testing purposes.' Interestingly, since the controversy, some of Thornton's social media accounts, like X, have since been either deleted or locked. It is possible that the missile is still in its early stages of development, with the primary goal of testing its aerodynamic design rather than its propulsion system. In such a case, Mach Industries could have used an off-the-shelf civilian engine to reduce costs. However, this cannot be verified at the time of writing. If the claims are true, this raises questions about U.S. and Chinese restrictions on military tech imports and exports. China, for its part, has banned the export of structural components, engines, and related manufacturing technologies, including gas turbine engines, since May 2024. Yet despite these restrictions, Mach Industries may have been able to acquire a Swiwin SW800 Pro and import it. This engine is currently available online for 128,000 yuan (US$17,600). It is essential to note that Swiwin Turbine, the manufacturer based in China's Hebei province, specializes in small-scale aviation engines for applications such as model aircraft and personal flying devices. 'Since the engine does not fall under China's military-use category, export bans have not affected it. The SW800 Pro was showcased at the Zhuhai Airshow last year,' a Swiwin spokesperson said in response to the claims. If Mach Industries did manage to acquire the engine through a third-party supplier for military development, it would indicate that China's export controls may not be as effective as intended. At the same time, the enforcement of the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which prohibit the integration of foreign components that pose potential supply chain risks into US military equipment, may also be lacking in strictness.
South China Morning Post
16-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Did a US military contractor use a Chinese-made jet engine in ‘Strategic Strike' missile?
A US defence contractor is facing scrutiny after allegations surfaced that its latest weapon system may be using a jet engine that was made in China and sold online. Advertisement On March 5, California-based start-up Mach Industries posted a promotional video on social media showcasing its latest product – a vertical take-off cruise missile. In the video, the missile is seen launching vertically from a stationary position on the ground before dramatically diving towards a target, resembling the attack pattern of a kamikaze drone. The footage also highlighted the missile's 3D-printed body and engine assembly. But it did not take long for viewers analysing the video to suggest that the engine design closely resembled the Swiwin SW800 Pro, a Chinese-manufactured model. Mach Industries was founded in 2022 by Ethan Thornton, who is now just 21 years old. The next-generation defence technology and manufacturing company has been making headlines of late. Just one day before the video's release, it announced it had been selected by the Army Applications Laboratory to develop a vertical take-off precision cruise missile, dubbed 'Strategic Strike'. Advertisement
