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Defense tech startup Shield AI<\/a> has expanded its latest funding round with another $300 million in equity and debt, bringing its total Series F to $500 million, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.<\/p>\n This total amount reflects $200 million in equity closed in November<\/a>, $100 million in new equity raised at the Series F price, and $200 million in debt. The debt provider is Hercules Capital; Shield declined to specify the source of the additional equity. The company\u2019s valuation now stands at $2.8 billion, up from $2.7 billion in November.<\/p>\n Shield AI is building an \u201cAI pilot\u201d to turn aircraft into autonomous systems. Its flagship product, Hivemind, will let teams of aircraft operate independently of remote operators, communications or GPS. Shield CEO and cofounder Ryan Tseng credits the capability to recent advances in compute.<\/p>\n \u201cAI pilots are becoming a strategic conventional deterrent in class with our aircraft carriers and<\/p>\n guided missile submarines,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cBut interestingly, it\u2019s the first strategic deterrent that is software-defined and has only recently become possible because of advances in AI and compute power. That\u2019s a huge paradigm shift for aerospace and defense.\u201d<\/p>\n While venture debt gets a bad wrap<\/a>, it can make a lot of sense<\/a> \u2013 especially for late-stage companies that need an injection of capital to reach the finish line (like profitability or exit). As opposed to being a last-ditch survival mechanism for struggling companies (as it sometimes can be for early stage startups), venture debt at the later stage can be a smart way to capitalize a late-stage growth company.<\/p>\n The San Diego-based company recently launched V-BAT Teams, a software product that operates with Hivemind and enables teams of V-BAT drones to execute missions autonomously and in coordination.<\/p>\n In recent testimony before the U.S. Senate, president and cofounder Brandon Tseng stressed the importance of AI piloted systems to the country\u2019s overall deterrence strategy, saying, \u201cWe believe AI piloted systems will be the greatest military deterrent of our generation. We must get it right.\u201d However, he added that incorporating AI pilots into the DOD\u2019s force structure had been \u201cdifficult and murky.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs we observe new types of warfare, where the large exceptional military arsenals we have built can be incapacitated by small, cheaply built adversary armaments, we need the DoD to change the way it builds its force of the future: switching the paradigm away from what worked in the past and focusing its resources on the next game-changing technological assets,\u201d he said. \u201cAdopt AI pilots too slow, and we will fail. Bold actions are required if we are to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n