Exclusive: Hadrian raises $1.37B amid surging defense-production demand
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Hadrian, the factory builder and defense manufacturer, raised $1.37 billion in venture capital and is now valued just shy of $8 billion, post-money.
Why it matters: American reindustrialization is catching on beyond niche national-security and investor communities.
What they're saying: "We were early," chief executive Chris Power tells Axios.
- "This has been a five-year slog, and only 18 months ago everyone went, 'Oh, God, manufacturing is super important, and we really need to create new American manufacturing jobs fast.'"
How it works: Hadrian pumps out precision parts and provides factories-as-a-service for aerospace and defense markets. It employs skilled human workers and augments that workforce with artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. (Its proprietary software is known as Opus.)
- Hadrian today has nearly 3 million square-feet across four sites, and a new headquarters in Los Angeles and an engineering and research-and-development hub in San Francisco are being planned.
Zoom in: Hadrian works with the world's largest arms makers, including Lockheed Martin and RTX, as well as neo-primes and smaller outfits, like Anduril Industries.
- In March, the U.S. Navy said the company would mass-produce components in Alabama for the service's Virginia-class attack and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
- "I think we're far ahead of the pack, in terms of highly automated, design-agnostic factories," Power says.
Follow the money: This Series D funding comes a little more than one year after a $260 million Series C.
- JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group served as the anchor co-lead, investing via the firm's Security and Resiliency Initiative.
- Co-leads include WCM Investment Management, Washington Harbour Partners, Valor Equity Partners, 137 Ventures and Baillie Gifford.
Zoom out: Wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe have thrust production proficiency and munitions health into the spotlight.
- U.S. troops overseas are today shooting expensive interceptors and missiles faster than they are being produced at home. (The Pentagon has denied stockpile depletion.)
The bottom line: "This is a no-fail mission to make sure that we have the production capability domestically," Power says.
- "Being able to produce — and have advanced factories — is deterrence," he adds.
- "It was never inventory. It was never a nice design. It's mass, and we need that in place for the next four to 10 years, so that we can continue to lead the world in a rational, democratic way."
Go deeper: GM, Lockheed Martin to collaborate on weapons production
