Exclusive: Electronic warfare startup CX2 snags $31 million
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Defense-tech upstart CX2 plans to hire more people and accelerate development of its electronic warfare tools on the heels of a $31 million raise, executives told Axios.
The big picture: Mastery of the electromagnetic spectrum is a life-or-death matter, and the U.S. has for years let its electronic warfare arsenal atrophy.
- "We are in the position now of firing multimillion-dollar missiles at $20,000 drones and $10,000 jammers," CEO Nathan Mintz told Axios.
- "The fight in Ukraine has shown that warfare has reached consumer scale, and we must build unbundled capabilities that can survive and thrive on the EW battlefield of the 21st century."
- Ukraine and Russia are flooding the front lines with electronic interference that messes with navigation, drones and other munitions.
Follow the money: The Series A was led by Point72 Ventures.
- Other backers included Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC and Pax Ventures.
State of play: CX2 builds software and hardware, including autonomous drones and specialty signals-intelligence payloads.
- Mintz declined to disclose the company's military customers but did say it worked with the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division as part of the service's transforming-in-contact initiative.
The intrigue: Mintz co-founded Epirus, a defense contractor that has supplied directed-energy weapons to the Marine Corps, among other users. (It raised $250 million in March.)
- He also worked at RTX and Boeing.
The bottom line: "We believe electronic warfare represents one of the most critical capability gaps in U.S. defense," said Point72 Ventures partner Chris Morales.
- "CX2's approach to building attritable, intelligent EW systems aligns perfectly with what we see as the future of warfare."
Go deeper: U.S. military testing Angry Kitten jammer on A-10 and C-130
