Exclusive: Heaviside Emerges from Stealth with $28M Series A
AI Analysis
Heaviside, a munitions startup, has emerged from stealth with $28M in Series A funding to develop affordable, high-precision autonomous munitions. Their technology is currently undergoing testing with US and NATO special forces and conventional units. The company aims to address the US military's munitions shortfall and production bottlenecks.
Key Takeaways
- Heaviside is focused on sub-one-meter precision at a lower price point than existing systems like JASSM, LRASM, Patriot, and Tomahawk.
- The company's emergence is driven by the demonstrated high rate of munitions consumption in conflicts like Ukraine and recent operations in the Middle East.
- US munitions stockpiles have been significantly depleted in recent conflicts, with substantial percentages of key interceptors and strike missiles already expended (THAAD, Patriot, PrSM, SM-3, Tomahawk, JASSM-ER).
- Investors include Interlagos Capital, Menlo Ventures, and former Dedrone CEO Aaditya Devarakonda, signaling interest in the counter-drone/precision strike space.
- Heaviside's approach targets a critical vulnerability: the lengthy production times and high costs associated with traditional prime contractor-produced munitions.
Why It Matters
The US military faces a critical need to replenish and increase munitions production capacity. Heaviside's technology, if successful, could offer a faster and more cost-effective solution, potentially shifting the balance in future conflicts and reducing reliance on traditional defense primes. This also highlights a growing trend of startups challenging established players in the defense industry.
Exclusive: Heaviside Emerges from Stealth with $28M Series A
Image: Heaviside
Well, folks, we’re starting the week off with a bang. (Forgive us.)
This morning, munitions startup Heaviside came out of stealth with a $28M Series A in an exclusive release to Tectonic. The round was led by Interlagos Capital with participation from Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos Ventures, Anorak Ventures, Frank Finelli (senior advisor and former MD of The Carlyle Group), Paul Dimitruk (co-founder, vice chairman & senior partner at Partners Capital), and former Dedrone CEO Aaditya Devarakonda.
The company has been quietly building autonomous precision munitions for the US and allied forces for about two years. Heaviside CEO Phillip Walker told Tectonic that their tech is already being tested by US special forces, NATO special forces, and conventional forces in “multiple NATO countries and the US.”
“We started the company to focus on closing the gap between price and precision for autonomous precision munitions,” Walker said. “Our focus is on being able to hit a sub-one-meter target at a very affordable price point.”
“If the US and its allies want to get a leg up on our adversaries, we need to make these munitions very affordable…but also very precise,” he added. “That’s really our core focus right now.”
Look out, Lockheed. The startups are coming for your bag.
Go boom: Now, we’ve talked, like, a lot about America’s munitions issues, so we’ll keep it brief.
To boil it down to brass tacks: The US military uses precision munitions (and all munitions, really) way faster than it can produce them.
- Basically, the Pentagon bought a relatively small number of these bad boys during the War on Terror. The assumption was that war would be different now—high-tech, limited, and reliant on US air superiority.
- The war in Ukraine blasted through that assumption. At peak fighting, Ukraine and Russia were both firing thousands of munitions a day.
- To use the 155mm as an example—before the war in Ukraine, the US was producing about 15,000 of these a month. Ukraine was using nearly that many in a day.
- When we look at missiles, it’s even worse. Things like JASSMs (Lockheed), LRASMs (Lockheed), Patriots (RTX and Lockheed), and Tomahawks (RTX) are all super-duper exquisite systems produced by the primes, and can take years to build. Plus, there’s the whole SRM bottleneck thing.
Crash and burn: The military operation (war) in Iran has shed some pretty harsh light on just how, well, screwed we are munitions-wise.
According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from late April, since the start of Operation Epic Fury, the US has used an estimated:
- 53–81 percent of its prewar THAAD interceptor inventory
- 46–58 percent of its Patriot PAC-3 interceptor inventory
- 45–55 percent of its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) inventory
- 40–50 percent of its SM-3 inventory
- 30 percent of its Tomahawk inventory
- 20–25 percent of its JASSM-ER