Epirus announced an oversubscribed $250 million Series D fundraising round, bringing the company’s total venture funding to more than $550 million and positioning the company to scale production of its Leonidas™ product line to meet growing global demand.
Leonidas™ is a scalable solid-state, high-energy, high-power microwave (HPM) technology for counter-electronics applications that has been proven effective in Department of Defense testing in countering drones, drone swarms, and other electronics. This investment will enable Epirus to grow and acquire the best talent, improve supply chain resiliency, upgrade internal systems and processes, expand into international and commercial markets, and increase the company’s innovation and manufacturing footprint in the U.S.
The round was led by 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners LP, alongside a deep roster of return investors including StepStone Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., Gaingels, and strategic defense partner General Dynamics Land Systems, and new investors including Oppenheimer’s Private Market Opportunities Vista VI Fund, NightDragon, Manhattan Venture Partners, Centaurus Capital LP, Center15 Capital and Protagonist.
“Our directed EMP is already the best protection against drone swarms today,” said Joe Lonsdale, Epirus Founder and Managing Partner, 8VC. “With our capital and talent and the right partnerships with U.S. Department of Defense to continue to advance Epirus’ technology, it will quickly become critical for defending aircraft, ships and even satellites and space-based platforms—and determinative for the future of warfare.”
“The future of warfare demands defense technologies that are intelligent, agile, scalable, and cost-effective,” said Mina Faltas, Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Washington Harbour Partners. “Epirus is delivering exactly that as the transformative leader in counter-electronics technology, delivering the only field-deployable solution capable of neutralizing drone swarms at scale. As the U.S. faces mounting threats and a strained defense industrial base, Epirus provides a unique asymmetric advantage to fill a critical gap in our national security. We are honored to partner with Epirus as they pioneer the next generation of directed energy capabilities, redefining how we protect our warfighters, civilians, and critical infrastructure.”
“GDLS is excited to continue our strategic partnership with Epirus and the promise of high-power microwave technology solutions used to address counter-UAS threats for military application,” said Dave Paddock, President, General Dynamics Land Systems.
A New Era of Warfare Requires a ‘1 to Many’ Mindset
“A new era of threats mandates a shift from a ‘1 to 1’ mindset to a ‘1 to many’ way of thinking for short-range air defense, and we are primed to support the Department of Defense in this new way of warfare,” said Andy Lowery, Epirus CEO. “This funding will supercharge the manufacturing capability for our Leonidas™ high-power microwave product line and position us for our next stage of scaling growth.”
Today’s battlefields are littered with thousands of low-cost, highly networked and highly distributed threats, capable of overwhelming traditional defenses through sheer volume and agility. This shift in warfare necessitates technologies that are scalable and easily upgraded to fit a range of use cases, effective against a spectrum of threats, and capable of processing many threats simultaneously by a single operator. That’s why Epirus built Leonidas™—a solid-state, software-defined, high-energy HPM system that delivers unmatched electronic warfare capabilities. Tested and proven as a scalable counter-swarm solution, Leonidas™ features an open architecture, unlimited magazine, and demonstrated non-kinetic effects against a wide range of electronic threats.
“It’s not just the effector that must operate with a “1 to many” mindset—the entire kill chain, from sensors to command and control, must do the same,” said Lowery. “We’ve worked alongside the Defense Department to drive this approach and will continue to support its evolution as the threat landscape evolves.”
With this funding, Epirus will realize its 2018 founding vision of building next-generation short-range air defense systems at scale and advance our mission of overcoming the asymmetric challenges inherent to the future of national security.
