, a California-based Unmanned Aerial System manufacturer that is leading the charge in expeditionary additive manufacturing has announced $12.5M in seed investment by Lockheed Martin Ventures and prominent defense investors.
“Firestorm is excited to announce this latest round of funding that will propel the company forward to shape the rapidly evolving needs of a UAS-dominated battlefield and a defense industrial base ripe for revolutionary manufacturing models,” said CEO Dan Magy. . “Our investors understand the pressing need for delivering technologies quickly and with the interoperability that today’s warfighters demand, and we are thrilled to welcome Lockheed Martin Ventures partnership in this mission.”
Bringing best-in-class engineering capabilities from the commercial advanced manufacturing space, Firestorm’s xCell line allows for its proprietary, 3D-printed, interconnected, and interchangeable airframe component technology to be manufactured at the edge, an approach that will fundamentally change the nature of warfare for the United States, its partners, and its allies.
Two 20-ft containers or one 40-ft container form factor – 50 unit / month production capacity – Deploy to remote locations or disguise and hide in plain sight
Lockheed Martin, Decisive Point, Silent Ventures, 645 Ventures, Overmatch VC, BVVC, Marquee Ventures, Cubit Capital, IronGate, Backswing Ventures, The Veteran Fund, Feld Ventures, Beyond Capital, and RedCat are among the notable names who have invested in Firestorm.
“We are a new approach to an emerging global challenge,” said Chad McCoy, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer. “There is a clear need within the defense technology sector to build faster and less costly systems, and simply throwing money at the issue won’t change the outcome. We found that coalescing a deep operational understanding of warfighter needs, combined with aerospace pragmatism, and a new rapid manufacturing model, allows us to stand out in a very crowded market. The goal is to create a completely new category that shakes up legacy timelines and cost.”
Firestorm has already won a range of U.S. Department of Defense contracts both for its modular UAS and the xCell manufacturing product line. This new capital will enable Firestorm to scale its team and production to meet growing demands for its products.
About Firestorm
Firestorm is building the future of modular, open-architecture unmanned aerial systems, supporting the warfighter’s needs. Firestorm meets the needs of a changing operational environment, where traditional “manned” solutions will no longer be available. “Self-supported” is a new reality, and platforms must fill many more mission areas than typical UASs: ISR, EW/SI, and Kinetic solutions integrate seamlessly into a sleek, low-cost system that 3D prints in under 9 hours.
Source: Press Release