- Castelion raised $350 million in Series B funding to scale production of its Blackbeard hypersonic missile and build a new manufacturing facility in New Mexico.
- The company plans to begin multi-service platform integration and high-tempo testing of Blackbeard in 2026.
Castelion, a fast-moving defense technology firm founded by SpaceX alumni, announced it has raised $350 million in Series B funding to accelerate production of its Blackbeard hypersonic weapon and expand U.S. industrial capacity for next-generation munitions.
The company says this funding will support construction of a large-scale manufacturing facility and operational integration with Army and Navy platforms.
“Blackbeard helps close America’s hypersonic capability gap against China and Russia,” said Castelion CEO and Co-Founder Bryon Hargis. “This funding lets us build fast, test often, and produce at volumes that matter in the real world.”
The capital will be used to develop Project Ranger, a 1,000-acre solid rocket motor production site in Sandoval County, New Mexico. Castelion plans to manufacture thousands of Blackbeard missiles annually at this facility, which the company says will support hundreds of high-skilled jobs. Castelion aims to begin multi-service platform testing in 2026.
The round was led by Altimeter Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, joined by Lavrock Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, First In, Space VC, Cantos, BlueYard, Avenir, Champion Hill, and Interlagos.
In a statement, Altimeter Capital Partner Erik Kriessmann said: “Castelion was founded by a special team of SpaceX alumni who, in just 2.5 years, took a clean-sheet hypersonic from concept to 25+ flight tests and major integration contracts. We’re leading this round because of what they’ve achieved in record time and so they can rapidly scale production of one of the U.S. Department of War’s most critical capabilities: affordable, mass-produced hypersonics.”
Castelion’s Blackbeard system is being positioned as a mass-manufacturable hypersonic weapon that could be deployed in large quantities. The company conducted over 20 development flight tests in 2025, validating internally built solid rocket motors, seekers, control actuation systems, and other key subsystems.
“Castelion isn’t just building missiles; they’re rebuilding America’s industrial depth,” said Connor Love, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “This team has proven they can move from blank sheet design to hardware under test faster than anyone thought possible.”
Investors say Castelion’s development and manufacturing model focuses on speed and scalability rather than boutique, low-volume production. By compressing design-to-launch cycles from years to months, the company is seeking to transform the way the U.S. fields hypersonic capability.
“Hypersonics only matter if you can build them at scale,” said Alex Poulin, Partner at Lavrock Ventures. “Castelion’s team understands that, and they’re engineering a production-ready capability designed for real-world manufacturing and deployment.”
Katherine Boyle, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, added: “Hypersonic weapons capacity will shape great power competition for generations. China recognized this a decade ago and deployed at scale. Castelion leads America’s arsenal renewal with the speed, cost advantage, and volume at scaled production that our nation demands.”
“Modern deterrence demands hypersonic capability at a pace, scale and cost that the U.S. has never seen,” said Paul Kwan, Managing Director at General Catalyst.
The company’s second hypersonic product line is already in development, with shared subsystems to reduce cost and manufacturing complexity.