Latest news with #LuxCapital
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Hadrian Raises $260 Million to Expand Manufacturing Capabilities
Hadrian, a Torrance-based advanced manufacturing company building AI-powered factories, received $260 million in Series C financing led by existing investors Founders Fund and Lux Capital and a factory expansion loan facility arranged by Morgan Stanley. It will use the investment to expand operations in California and Arizona with new manufacturing space, expanded research and development capacity, and dedicated teams focused on shipbuilding and naval defense production. With its 'Factories-as-a-Service' model, Hadrian can rapidly scale production across key Department of Defense areas, such as munitions, shipbuilding and other high-priority programs. 'America cannot afford to lose another generation of industrial capacity,' said Chris Power, chief executive and founder of Hadrian, in a statement. 'We're building the factories that will secure American leadership in advanced manufacturing and create new jobs here in the United States.' It plans to build a large-scale production facility and software hub spanning approximately 270,000 square feet in Arizona and initiated a search for a 400,000-square-foot corporate and R&D headquarters. Both facilities are expected to come online by year-end. Cooley advised Hadrian on the funding round as well as its previous $117-million funding round in February 2024. Information for this article was sourced from Hadrian.
TechCrunch
22-07-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
User privacy app Cloaked adds AI-powered caller screening
Lux Capital-backed Cloaked, a consumer app for user identity protection, launched an AI-powered caller screening and dark web monitoring feature today. Cloaked's caller screening feature, named Call Guard, takes a call from an unknown number and converses with the caller to understand the intent. The tool automatically filters out spam or potentially scammy calls instead of relying on users to make the decision. It's similar to what Google launched for Pixel, and what Apple plans to roll out for iOS 26 users. Third-party companies like Truecaller have also used AI for call screening. Image Credits: Cloaked Users can still see the full transcript of the call in real-time in case they want to take over the call. Cloaked had already worked on developing the phone infrastructure for its identity product that lets users create new phone numbers to mask their real numbers. The startup is taking advantage of that tech, along with call forwarding, to protect users from scams. 'We are trying to understand the intent of the caller using AI rather than just asking the name of the caller and why they are calling. From the data that users have shared with us, a large amount of spam calls and medicare calls, and then there are political calls. We have also observed that users are now receiving calls from bad AI agents, and we are training our AI agent to tackle that,' Cloaked CEO Arjun Bhatnagar said. Bhatnagar acknowledged that Apple and Google's features are based on a similar premise. He said people sign up for trying out these features, but retention numbers are low because of a lack of personalization, and that's why startups like Cloaked can come in. While handling inbound calls is the first step for Cloaked, the company wants to enable an outbound call facility that deploys AI-bots to hold the line while on a customer support call or booking appointments. Cloaked is also working on an eSIM product. Additionally, the startup is releasing a dark web monitor for personal data. The company observes different sources such as data brokers, breach sites, compromised websites, dark web forums, Discord, and Telegram for leaked user data. The tool searches for names, addresses, social security numbers, emails, family members, passports, and driver's licenses. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW It shows users an alert when it finds such leaked data. The company also bifurcates these leaks into active/recent events and historical events, helping users take action for their data. Image Credits: Cloaked The company also has a data deletion program, through which users can request sites and data brokers to delete data. Cloaked sends programmatic and legal requests to these sites. The startup said it has helped users get rid of more than 170 million records across the web. Cloaked said that it has added more than 100,000 paying customers since the beginning of the year and is seeing strong month-over-month growth. Until 2023, the startup had raised $29 million in funding. Bhatnagar said that the company has gotten an additional $11 million in funding from a mix of existing and new investors, but it is not defining the round or disclosing the new investors as it plans to close a formal round by the end of this year.
Los Angeles Times
20-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Santa Monica's Reflect Orbital Raises $20 Million for Sunlight on Demand
Reflect Orbital, a Santa Monica-based space tech company, raised a $20-million Series A round to accelerate development of its satellite constellation designed to deliver sunlight on demand. The round was led by Lux Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Starship Ventures. 'Lux backs some of the most impressive hardware companies out there, and they share our vision. We couldn't ask for better partners to join us in creating the future of light and energy, and together, we'll get our first lux on the ground,' said Ben Nowack, chief executive of Reflect Orbital, in a statement. Sourced from Reflect Orbital.
Wall Street Journal
17-07-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Defense-Tech Startup Hadrian Raises $260 Million for New Robot Factory
President Trump wants to speed up America's lagging munitions production and revitalize deteriorated shipyards. Advanced manufacturing startup Hadrian aims to do that with the help of a workforce of robots, and is now armed with fresh funding to boost manufacturing Southern California-based Hadrian said Thursday it raised $260 million in debt and equity to expand production of critical defense components and complete a 270,000-square-foot factory in Mesa, Ariz., which will be the company's largest. The equity portion of the raise, $110 million, was led by defense-tech funds Founders Fund and Lux Capital. Morgan Stanley provided the loan for the factory expansion.
Bloomberg
10-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Stealth UK Startup Building Iron Dome-Like Tech Eyes $400 Million Valuation
A new British startup, called Cambridge Aerospace, has raised around $100 million in early capital to develop defense systems for intercepting drones and cruise missiles, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The company has been operating in secret and its existence has not been previously reported. While it has yet to launch publicly, it's already recruited a former UK minister and received multiple rounds of investment from backers including Accel, Lakestar and Lux Capital, said the people. Corporate filings in the UK show partners from the three venture capital funds as directors in the company.
