Point72 Ventures has led a $90m series C round for Shield AI, whose leadership includes Carnegie Mellon University’s associate research professor Nathan Michael.

Shield AI, a US-based defence technology developer, secured $90m in a series C round yesterday led by venture capital firm Point72 Ventures. The round consisted of equity and debt financing, though further details were not revealed. Founded in 2015, Shield AI develops edge artificial intelligence software to enable small unmanned aircraft systems to operate autonomously even when out of reach of GPS or communications. Its leadership includes chief technology officer Nathan Michael, who is also an associate research professor in the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). He is not a co-founder, however, and it is unclear if Shield AI has licensed any CMU intellectual property. The funding will allow Shield AI to scale and further integrate its software, called Hivemind, to enable indoor and outdoor reconnaissance in conflict zones. It expects to reveal a next-generation product within months. Shield AI raised $52.9m in equity financing towards a $75m target in November 2020, according to a regulatory filing, though it is likely this formed part of the series C round. Breyer Capital supplied an undisclosed amount of funding in January 2019, with a contemporaneous filing indicating the investment was worth $10m. The company subsequently closed a $22.2m series B round eight months later, though investors were not identified. Media company Bloomberg’s investment unit, Bloomberg Beta, took part in a $10.5m series A round in 2017. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, in which Homebrew and Founder Collective also participated. Shield AI had earlier obtained $2.6m in funding from unnamed backers, according to a securities filing.

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Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).