Epirus' Leonidas system in use at a field demonstration. Courtesy of Epirus.
Epirus collects $250M in Series D capital to scale up production
The seven-year-old startup is pushing to further develop and make more of its Leonidas system, which works to fire lasers and other pulses at adversaries' drones.
Epirus, a defense technology startup that makes directed energy and anti-drone systems, has fetched $250 million in Series D capital from investors to aid in the expansion of production capacity.
This new round of investment disclosed Wednesday will focus on Leonidas, a system designed to fire electromagnetic pulses at unmanned aerial vehicles while on-the-move.
In 2023, Epirus won a $66 million contract to supply Leonidas to the Army with a framework for transitioning that system to a future program of record after successful demonstrations of prototypes.
Epirus opened for business in 2018 and is one of the few defense tech startups to have crossed both variations of the “Valley of Death” -- one referring to government acquisition timelines and the second pertaining to when young companies must start generating positive cash flow.
Sometimes the trend lines also match up well too. In the case of Epirus, this new injection of capital comes at a time when drone warfare has been a main feature of the Russia-Ukraine war since it started in 2022.
As Epirus and other startups like it see the world, lasers or microwaves are today’s best means for destroying groups of unmanned aerial vehicles. That presents a different cost and operational model for how to combat adversarial drones, as opposed to traditional weapons like rockets.
"A new era of threats mandates a shift from a '1 to 1' mindset to a '1 to many' way of thinking for short-range air defense, and we are primed to support the Department of Defense in this new way of warfare," Epirus’ chief executive Andy Lowery said in a release. "It's not just the effector that must operate with a "1 to many" mindset—the entire kill chain, from sensors to command and control, must do the same."
It is also notable that Epirus' announcement of the Series D round uses the word "Hyperscale" in the headline. Anduril also used that H-word in its August disclosure of a $1.5 billion venture capital raise to describe the next phase of its strategy.
Epirus' Series D round was co-led by venture capital firm 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners. General Dynamics’ land systems unit that makes tanks and other armored vehicles is a returning investor along others such as StepStone Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management and Gaingels.
General Dynamics Land Systems acts as a strategic defense partner to Epirus, with the companies having integrated Leonidas onto the former’s lineup of Stryker ground combat vehicles. 8VC’s managing partner is Joe Londsale, a co-founder of both Epirus and Palantir.
Oppenheimer's Private Market Opportunities Vista VI Fund, NightDragon, Manhattan Venture Partners, Centaurus Capital LP and Center15 Capital are among the new investors in Epirus.
Epirus did not disclose its new touted valuation from the Series D round, but put that figure at around $1.35 billion at the time of its $200 million Series C round in 2022. The company has collected $550 million in external capital since its inception.
Along with the production capacity push, Epirus intends to put some of its newfound investment toward a new simulation center in Oklahoma for training soldiers in anti-drone warfare.
The company will also prioritize the expansion and strengthening of its supply chain and workforce, as well as exploration of new opportunities in international and commercial markets.