Cambridge Aerospace raises funds to expand development capabilities

Air defence company Cambridge Aerospace has today announced the closure of its Series C round with $300 million of investment at a $3.4 billion (£2.52 bn) valuation.

The round will support Cambridge Aerospace’s continued exponential growth as the company expands manufacturing capabilities to deliver on existing and new contracts, while continuing to invest in the spiral development of existing products and bringing the next generation of capabilities to market.

The round was led by DFJ Growth and supported by Lux, Accel, Lakestar, Never Lift, Ora Global and Elad Gil & Co. The addition of DFJ Growth and their expertise in rapidly scaling technology, combined with the continued support from early investors, shows the confidence in Cambridge Aerospace as they continue to deliver on contracts and invest in new technology.

Skyhammer in flight. Photo Cambridge Aerospace

Countering drone threats

Since the company’s $200 million raise at a $1.3 billion valuation at Series B, co-led by Elad Gil & Co and Spark Capital, in April of this year, the company has received several contracts from the UK Ministry of Defence, including to provide low-cost interceptors for the UK Armed Forces. The initial contract was announced by the Defence Secretary at the London Defence Conference, and the Low-Cost Effectors & Autonomous Platforms (LEAP) programme was announced in July.

Formed less than two years ago, the rapid growth of the company has been driven by its leadership team, with Professor Steven Barrett, the CEO, bringing extensive engineering expertise from his background as an aerospace engineer, CCO Chris Sylvan bringing his experience of more than a decade serving in the Royal Marines followed by working in emerging defence technology and Junaid Hussain, founder of several emerging technology companies.

Expanding workforce

Two-thirds of the company’s over 250 employees work in highly skilled technical and engineering roles, while also drawing on the skills of veterans of Allied armed forces. It is this talent pool that has allowed the company to successfully develop and deliver its first product, Skyhammer, in such a short period and will bring the next product, Starhammer, to market in 2027. As well as the UK, the company has a presence in Germany, Poland, Norway, Ukraine and Australia.

Cambridge Aerospace CEO, Steven Barrett said: “This raise is testament to the incredible work of the entire Cambridge Aerospace team. By bringing together the best talent in the world with a singular mission to protect Allied skies from threats, we have achieved a huge amount already. The addition of these funds will allow us to continue to scale our manufacturing and our delivery to meet the pace of threats and the needs of Allied nations.”

Photo: Cambridge Aerospace

Randy Glein, DFJ Growth Founder and Managing Partner, said: “Cambridge Aerospace is solving one of the most pressing challenges of modern warfare. They have developed an affordable and accurate counter UAS system for eliminating the inbound threats and battlefield chaos caused by low-cost aerial attack drones. We surveyed the global landscape and identified Cambridge as having the best team and technology to build the most advanced and modern air defence infrastructure for Europe and its allies.”

Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting MP said: “This valuation is a great vote of confidence in Britain. Cambridge Aerospace’s Skyhammer is an example of the low-cost interceptor missiles our Armed Forces need to deter adversaries and keep our country safe.

“It is exactly what our unicorn scheme is designed to create – British start-ups scaling into billion-pound companies, creating skilled jobs, cementing the UK’s position at the forefront of defence innovation.”