Castelion, a Torrance, California-based defense-tech startup founded by former SpaceX engineers, raised $1 billion in Series C funding on August 19, 2026, split between $800 million in equity and a $250 million committed revolving credit facility. JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz, and funds managed by Carlyle co-led the equity round, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lavrock Ventures, Altimeter, General Catalyst, Interlogos, and new investor T. Rowe Price Associates. The valuation reached $13 billion, representing a substantial jump from the company's Series B in December 2025.
Castelion builds Blackbeard, a mass-producible hypersonic strike missile engineered for industrial-rate output at a target unit cost of roughly $384,000, far cheaper than legacy hypersonic programs that cost millions per missile. The company has secured over $500 million in US military contracts over 18 months and has taken Blackbeard from concept to Pentagon program of record in under four years. The U.S. Navy is the primary customer, with a framework agreement contemplating a two-year production contract for a minimum 500 Blackbeard missiles annually after validation. Initial fielding is targeted for 2027.
The capital will expand manufacturing at Castelion's 1,000-acre Project Ranger campus in New Mexico (already receiving over $250 million in private infrastructure investment), accelerate development of a longer-range strike weapon, and build air-and-missile defense systems. T. Rowe Price's participation signals pre-IPO conviction. The funding reflects a broader defense-tech wave: investors are bankrolling manufacturing-scale production of weapons once dominated by Lockheed Martin and RTX, as Pentagon demand for faster munitions production outpaces traditional contractor capacity.