San Antonio, Texas-based drone maker Darkhive has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by cybersecurity-focused venture capital firm Ten Eleven Ventures.
In addition to building lightweight reconnaissance drones, Darkhive has developed a proprietary software continuous delivery platform that aims to address important cybersecurity challenges.
The company’s FleetForge product is a DevSecOps platform designed for securely building, testing, and deploying updates and other code accredited by the US Defense Department to uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS).
“Ten Eleven’s investment in Darkhive is part of our commitment to cybersecurity-focused companies supporting national security initiatives,” said Ten Eleven Ventures General Partner Mark Hatfield. “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 US and US-allied military units.”
Crosslink Capital, RTX Ventures, and Stellar Ventures have also participated in the Series A funding round.
Darkhive previously raised $4 million in a seed funding round, and has been awarded several defense contracts by the US government.
“The US and our allies around the world require secure, adaptive, and cost-effective autonomous drones to enable unified, rapid response to global security threats,” said John Goodson, CEO of Darkhive.
“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. 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,” Goodson added.
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