Shield AI, the San Diego-based defense-autonomy company founded by Brandon and Ryan Tseng, has closed $1.5 billion in Series G equity as part of a broader $2.25 billion capital package that also includes debt financing. The round values the company at $12.7 billion, up from roughly $5.3 billion at its last priced round in 2023.
The capital will fund scale-up of Hivemind, Shield AI's autonomy stack, which is now flying on more than twenty distinct airframes across the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Ukrainian Armed Forces. The company also plans a new manufacturing facility in Oklahoma with a stated capacity of 10,000 unmanned aircraft per year by 2028.
The defense-autonomy category has become one of the most concentrated pockets of venture capital in the current cycle. Anduril closed a $1.5 billion round at a $28 billion valuation in Q4 2025; Saronic raised $650 million for naval autonomy in Q1; Palantir's equity now trades at a software multiple more typical of frontier AI labs than defense primes.
Key facts
- 01Defense. A key thread of reporting in this story.
- 02Autonomy. A key thread of reporting in this story.
- 03Series G. A key thread of reporting in this story.
Investors named on the Shield AI round include Hanwha, Riot Ventures, a new strategic check from a sovereign wealth fund the company declined to identify, and follow-on from Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism practice.
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