The $175 million in series B funding that defense technology firm Saronic successfully raised, according to its leaders, will be crucial to the company’s ability to quickly scale up manufacturing of its three autonomous surface vessels.
According to a corporate release, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the investment round, with participation from other organizations including 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Elad Gil, and NightDragon. Executives from Saronic told Breaking Defense in April that they had secured about $70 million so far, so this investment round has raised more than twice as much as the last one.
chief executive of Saronic, Dino Mavrookas, told reporters today, “What we’re doing now is really focusing on building the thousands.” “That manufacturing plant needs to be scaled.” The system is built by the system itself. It’s setting the stage for quick scale.
The Austin, Texas-based company is principally involved in the design and construction of autonomous surface vessels. It presently manufactures two models: the 6-foot Corsair and the 14-foot Cutlass, and it is working on a 24-foot version of the Spyglass. As Saronic puts it, the ASVs essentially meet the requirements that US Navy officials have stated are essential to constructing the future hybrid fleet: unmanned and autonomous ships with open systems architecture that can carry a wide variety of payloads depending on the mission.
Mavrookas’ emphasis on quickly scaling up production aligns with the objectives of Replicator, the Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks project that mandates the Pentagon produce thousands of unmanned systems in less than two years to confront China. (When asked if it had discussed Replicator with the Defense Department, Saronic deferred to the Pentagon.)
In the same conference call, Saronic co-founder Rob Lehman told reporters that the company’s participation in Integrated Battle Problem 24.1, a major military exercise used by the Navy to evaluate unmanned systems, was a “coming out party for Saronic.”
“We went to San Diego and brought more boats than folks expected us to bring. And, frankly, we participated in more vignettes and parts of the exercise than were even planned,” the speaker admitted. “Post-Integrated Battle Problem, frankly, the demand signal has accelerated for the exercises, demonstrations, etc. throughout the rest of [2024] and [2025] as well.”