Hypersonic Weapon Maker Castelion Raises $100M in Funding

Defense manufacturer Castelion has raised $100 million in equity and debt financing.

The El Segundo, California-based company said Wednesday it will use the capital to increase prototype testing, scale manufacturing facilities and conduct a capability demonstration of its first hypersonic strike weapon.

Financing Round

Castelion secured $70 million in a Series A financing round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Lavrock Ventures, a16z, Cantos, First In, BlueYard Capital and Interlagos participated in the round.

The company also received $30 million in venture debt financing provided by Silicon Valley Bank.

The funding round is expected to close in February.

Mass-Producible Hypersonic Weapon

Castelion is developing a mass-producible, long-range hypersonic weapon using rapid iterative design cycles, agile hardware development and modern manufacturing practices.

The company performed three internal flight tests within a month after designing and building solid rocket motors, hypersonic protection material, and low-cost missile avionics.

Castelion noted that it has contracts with the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force to build and test its first hypersonic strike weapon.

In April 2024, the Department of Defense’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office selected Castelion as one of the finalists in a two-phase challenge that aims to develop novel approaches that could be used to rapidly develop and perform flight tests of hypersonic prototypes.

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