Defense tech Hadrian raises $1.37B at $8B valuation

Defense tech Hadrian announced on Thursday that it had raised a fresh $1.37 billion round at a valuation of $7.87 billion from a mile-long list of well-known investors.

The lead investors in the round include WCM Investment Management, Washington Harbour Partners, Valor Equity Partners, 137 Ventures, and Baillie Gifford. Participating investors include 1789 Capital, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, funds managed by Apollo and T. Rowe Price, as well as firms like CapitalG, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Altimeter, and others.

Founders Fund and Lux led the company’s $260 million Series C financing about a year ago, bringing the total raised to date to around $2 billion, according to PitchBook estimates.

Hadrian is an interesting defense tech in that it’s not trying to build new AI-powered weapons. The company is building automated manufacturing facilities that will mass-produce parts for the vehicles that the military complex already relies on.

For instance, in March, Hadrian opened a facility in Alabama to mass-produce parts for submarines, making that its fourth facility. The deal for that facility, structured as a public/private partnership, was valued at $2.4 billion, Hadrian said.