Defense drone developer Cambridge Aerospace raises $300M

Cambridge Aerospace Ltd. this week raised $300 million in Series C funding, bringing its valuation to $3.4 billion. The defense drone developer said it plans to expand its manufacturing capabilities to deliver on existing and new contracts.

The round comes just months after Cambridge Aerospace’s $200 million Series B round in April. Since then, the company said it has received several contracts from the U.K. Ministry of Defence, including one to provide low-cost interceptors for the British Armed Forces.

“This raise is testament to the incredible work of the entire Cambridge Aerospace team,” said Steven Barrett, CEO of Cambridge Aerospace. “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.”

DFJ Growth led the round. It also included support from Lux, Accel, Lakestar, Never Lift, Ora Global and Elad Gil & Co. In addition to expanding manufacturing, Cambridge Aerospace said it also plans to invest in the spiral development of existing products and bringing the next generation of capabilities to market.

Cambridge to launch Skyhammer drone-based system

Founded in 2024, Cambridge Aerospace develops advanced air defense systems. Its first product, Skyhammer, has a range of over 30 km (18.6 mi.) and a top speed of 700 km/h (434.9 mph), enabling it to intercept a wide range of aerial threats, including drones and low-speed missiles.

The company started developing Skyhammer in January 2025. It achieved initial flight testing within six weeks. Since then, the system has undergone continuous, iterative testing on a weekly basis. This ensures effectiveness across varied operational scenarios and compatibility with a broad range of sensor systems, asserted Cambridge Aerospace.

The company said that recent testing demonstrated consistent successful interceptions of drone targets under varied conditions, with autonomous platforms identifying, tracking, and neutralizing threats.

“Cambridge Aerospace is solving one of the most pressing challenges of modern warfare,” stated Randy Glein, founder and managing partner of DFJ Growth. “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 defense infrastructure for Europe and its allies,” he added.

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Drones for defense gain prominence in the robotics industry

Robots for defense, and drones in particular, have seen increasing investment in recent years. In July, Ondas Inc. acquired DZYNE Technologies LLC, an Irvine, Calif.-based defense technology company, for $875.8 million.

Also last month, Quantum Systems raised $1.2 billion. The company develops, designs, and produces fully autonomous drones for frontline forces. The financing more than doubled its valuation. Quantum Systems said this reflects its fast-growing revenue, profitability, and multi-domain strategy.

In June, Mach Industries, a manufacturer of uncrewed defense systems, raised $300 million. This brought the company’s total funding to $1.8 billion since it was founded in 2023. The latest funding will enable Mach Industries to accelerate its execution of government contracts, acquire talent, develop products, and expand its Forge manufacturing network.

In May, HavocAI Inc. raised $100 million. Havoc said its software-defined hardware approach enables military and commercial-grade autonomous systems to sense, decide, and act together in complex and contested environments.