Castelion raises $1.05B Series C at $13B valuation to scale hypersonic missiles
What's the deal? Missile startup Castelion has closed a $1.05 billion Series C co-led by private-equity firm Carlyle GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, JPMorgan ChaseDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Andreessen Horowitz. The round values the California company at $13 billion and includes $800 million in equity plus a $250 million revolving credit facility.
What's the endgame? Founded by three SpaceXDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → alumni, Castelion aims to design, test, and produce weapons faster than incumbents like RTXDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Lockheed MartinDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. It will use the capital to scale production of its Blackbeard hypersonic missile, develop a larger hypersonic strike weapon, and build a mass-produced air-defense missile.
Why now? Military leaders say they need more hypersonic weapons to match China's arsenal, while the Pentagon is pushing factories to boost output of systems like the Patriot. Russia's war in Ukraine and the 2026 US conflict with Iran have drawn Western Patriot stockpiles low enough to alarm officials.
Castelion has spent roughly $250 million building a New Mexico campus for Blackbeard — named for the pirate to signal its expected sea deployment — and is now hunting for a second factory site.
By the numbers: The round ranks among the largest Series C deals ever raised by a US security company, sitting in the top 1% by amount across 568 comparable rounds.
Ian Fujiyama, head of Carlyle's aerospace, defense, and government practice, said his firm took equity to capitalise on Castelion's fast build timeline. “We think there's a multidecade need to rebuild some of that capability that has just atrophied over the years,” he said.
The signal: New defense companies once relied on venture funds like Andreessen Horowitz, an earlier Castelion backer. The arrival of Carlyle and JPMorgan's $10 billion national-security investment group shows Wall Street's growing appetite for early-stage defense bets — a shift chief executive Bryon Hargis framed as “the power of private capital.”
Image credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video
Read more: MSN
