California-based Firestorm Labs, an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) manufacturer leading the charge in expeditionary additive manufacturing, announced a $12.5 million seed investment by Lockheed Martin Ventures and prominent defense investors. Decisive Point, Silent Ventures, 645 Ventures, Overmatch VC, BVVC, Marquee Ventures, Cubit Capital, IronGate, Backswing Ventures, The Veteran Fund, Feld Ventures, Beyond Capital, and RedCat are also some of the notable names who have invested in Firestorm.
With sophisticated engineering capabilities from the commercial advanced manufacturing space, Firestorm’s xCell line enables proprietary, 3D-printed, interconnected, and interchangeable airframe component technology to be manufactured at the edge. This approach fundamentally changes the nature of warfare for the US partners and allies.
Firestorm has already won several U.S. Department of Defense contracts for its modular UAS and the xCell manufacturing product line. This funding will enable Firestorm to scale its team and production to meet growing product demand.
KEY QUOTES:
“Firestorm is excited to announce this latest round of funding that will propel the company forward to shape the rapidly evolving needs of a UAS-dominated battlefield and a defense industrial base ripe for revolutionary manufacturing models. Our investors understand the pressing need for delivering technologies quickly and with the interoperability that today’s warfighters demand, and we are thrilled to welcome Lockheed Martin Ventures partnership in this mission.”
– CEO Dan Magy
“We are a new approach to an emerging global challenge. There is a clear need within the defense technology sector to build faster and less costly systems, and simply throwing money at the issue won’t change the outcome. We found that coalescing a deep operational understanding of warfighter needs, combined with aerospace pragmatism, and a new rapid manufacturing model, allows us to stand out in a very crowded market. The goal is to create a completely new category that shakes up legacy timelines and cost.”
– Chad McCoy, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
