LOS ANGELES: U.S. defense manufacturing startup Hadrian announced on Thursday the close of a $260 million Series C funding round, led by Founders Fund and Lux Capital, to significantly expand its production facilities aimed at bolstering American naval defense capabilities.
The Hawthorne, California-based company, which uses automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence to produce precision machine parts, said the capital will fund a massive new 270,000 square foot factory in Mesa, Arizona, and an expansion of its existing Torrance, California facility. The Arizona plant, slated to open by Christmas, will be four times larger than its current California operation and create 350 local jobs.
Hadrian, positioning itself as a disruptor to established defense primes like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, stated the expansion is critical to meeting rapidly growing Department of Defense demands, particularly in shipbuilding and submarines.
“We have to do a lot more … but certainly we’re able to keep up with the scale right now,” Hadrian CEO Chris Power told CNBC in an interview. “As a country, we have to treat this like a national security crisis, not just the economics of manufacturing.”
Power emphasized the need for a “quantum leap above China’s manufacturing model,” framing Hadrian’s approach as “supercharging the worker versus replacing them.” The company claims its technology allows it to train new workers, including those with no prior factory experience like former marines and nurses, within 30 days, boosting productivity tenfold.
Hadrian also revealed plans for four to five additional new facilities within the next year to further support defense production needs. The funding round included participation from Andreessen Horowitz and new investor Altimeter Capital, led by Brad Gerstner. This follows a $92 million round closed by the company in late 2023.