Defense technology startup Darkhive Inc. has raised $21 million in new funding to develop its product portfolio, expand its resources and pursue new business opportunities.
Founded in 2021, Darkhive creates and develops hardware and software for the U.S. drone industry with a focus on delivering a complete ecosystem to teams in the field. The company’s mission is to create an accessible situational awareness system for all U.S. allied military and public safety personnel.
Darkhive’s software platform is designed to build, scan, test and securely deploy U.S. Department of Defense-accredited software to unmanned aircraft systems – more commonly known as drones – including secure updates. Bigger picture, the company plans to enable comprehensive fleet and device management in the field.
The company has developed a close working relationship with the Department of Defense, including securing a Phase III SBIR $100 MM AFWERX contract for small unmanned aerial systems software development and integration for autonomy infrastructures and platforms. Darktrace has also previously been awarded multiple other Defense Department-related contracts covering development, software integration and autonomy infrastructure around small drones.
“The current UAS landscape is full of hurdles that leave users in the field at an extreme disadvantage; Chinese offerings are intuitive to use and affordable but have known cyber security vulnerabilities,” John Goodson, chief executive officer of Darkhive, explains. “While American-made products are secure, they’re expensive and difficult to use effectively. We owe it to the men and women on the front line to provide a complete solution that is secure, affordable, reliable and can be used by anyone in the field.”
Ten Eleven Ventures LP led the Series A round, with Crosslink Capital Inc., RTX Ventures and Stellar Ventures also participating. Notably, RTX Ventures is the venture capital arm of RTX Corp. – better known as Raytheon Technologies, a major U.S. defense contractor with extensive ties to the Department of Defense.
“We believe Darkhive’s platform offers the most compelling way to integrate vital secure code delivery and asset management for UAS fleets and, ultimately, other IoT devices used within U.S. and U.S.-allied military units,” Mark Hatfield, general partner at Ten Eleven Ventures, commented on why his venture capital firm led the funding round.