Exclusive: Big-drone builder Swarm Aero raises $35 million

Colin Demarest

Illustration of an upward arrow surrounded by money elements and abstract shapes. — Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios

Swarm Aero raised $35 million and plans to more than double its headcount by the end of the year.

The big picture: The California startup is developing what CEO Danny Goodman described to Axios as large, swarming drones capable of carrying missiles, electronic warfare payloads and cargo alike.

"We are not expendable, like a Switchblade or a one-way thing, and we're also not exquisite, like a B-2 or F-35," he said.

It opened a manufacturing facility in Arkansas last month.

Follow the money: The Series A was led by Two Sigma Ventures and Silent Ventures. It follows a $2 million pre-seed in 2022 and a $22 million seed in 2023.

Other backers include Alumni Ventures, Construct Capital and Founders Fund.

Zoom in: Swarm has completed preliminary design of its Group 5 drone, which will "take off heavier than a killer whale," according to Goodman. The first large parts are now being built.

Goodman expects a first flight in the next two years.
"Two-thirds of the cost of building a new aircraft is generally headcount — to design it and assemble it and test it," he said.

Zoom out: Drone warfare — born in Nagorno-Karabakh and refined in the Russia-Ukraine war — has jolted military doctrines the world over.

The Pentagon under both the Trump and Biden administrations put a premium on the drone-counter-drone game.

The intrigue: Goodman previously co-founded Vannevar Labs. One of his co-founders at Swarm spent a decade at Scaled Composites.

Go deeper: For the Pentagon's drone push, the "factory is the weapon"

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Exclusive: Big-drone builder Swarm Aero raises $35 million

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