Credit: Hypersonica
British-German defence startup Hypersonica has raised €100m in a Series B round to accelerate development of its hypersonic missile system. The weapons travel at more than five times the speed of sound, making them difficult to intercept.
US investors Lightspeed and General Catalyst co-led the round, the company announced today, and existing investors Plural and 201 Ventures also joined the round.
The deal values Hypersonica at around €700m, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Yet, the company has not disclosed its valuation, but Hypersonica has now raised around €126M in total, including a €23.3M Series A completed in February.
Founded by chief executive Philipp Kerth and chief technology officer Marc Ewenz, both of whom completed their doctorates at Oxford, the company is headquartered in Wessling, near Munich, with a subsidiary in London.
Hypersonica plans to use the new funding to accelerate development, conduct more test flights, and expand its business across Europe. It also expects the investment to create hundreds of engineering and manufacturing jobs in the UK and Germany.
The startup is targeting 2029 for the deployment of its long-range system. It completed its first test flight from the Andøya Space site in northern Norway in February.
Hypersonica is also involved in the UK-German Deep Precision Strike programme, part of the Trinity House Agreement.
The UK has allocated £770m over four years to the programme, according to the company.
“The debate about whether Europe needs hypersonic deep-strike capability is over,” Kerth and Ewenz said. “Series B marks our transition from demonstration to delivery.”
The company claims its development approach cuts costs by more than 80% compared with traditional methods.
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