US Defense-contracted Startup Plans to Produce 1 Million Attack Drones Annually

US defense drone startup Nerthus Technologies (hereafter Nerthus) recently secured an additional 250 million dollars (354 billion KRW), tripling its valuation to 2.5 billion dollars (3.54 trillion KRW).

Bloomberg reported on the 11th (local time) that the latest funding round was co-led by Sequoia Capital and the American Strategic Technology Fund, with participation from existing investors including Peter Thiel's capital.

Nerthus, in its third year since founding, signed a 500 million dollar (approx. 740 billion KRW) contract with the US Department of Defense last month to mass-produce and supply wartime drones.

Nerthus plans to channel the newly raised funds into the mass production of its attack drone, "Archer," and interceptor drone, "Bandit."

The company also plans to increase its headcount from the current 200 to around 350 employees and use the funds to expand the annual production capacity of the Archer from the current 65,000 units to 1 million units by 2028.

Nerthus recently unveiled a prototype of the Bandit and aims for combat deployment by the end of the year.

Soren Munro-Anderson, CEO of Nerthus, stated that the newly secured funds will also be used to upgrade handsets used for drone piloting and develop other products such as the improved Archer AI.

Archer AI is capable of tracking targets and coordinating movements even in areas where GPS signals cannot reach.

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.