Furientis has existed for about a year and has, by its lead investor’s count, already launched a dozen missiles. On Tuesday TechCrunch reported that the Los Angeles startup had raised a $25 million seed round led by Benchmark, at a valuation of $125 million.
The company builds interceptors, the missiles that shoot down other missiles. Its pitch is volume. Co-founder Brody Franzen said the systems are designed to be assembled quickly from readily available components, at a fraction of the cost of legacy interceptors, which run to about $3 million each. Franzen was deputy chief engineer at Virgin Galactic and worked at Castelion. His co-founder, Aris Simsarian, led rocket engine testing at Virgin Orbit.
Chetan Puttagunta of Benchmark said the team built its prototypes and flew them on a $5 million pre-seed round announced in May. Furientis now tests in the field every two weeks, at White Sands in New Mexico.
The demand case is arithmetic. TechCrunch notes the US Navy receives 300 to 500 interceptors a year, while China claims it can produce 3,000 anti-ship cruise missiles a month. The wars in Ukraine and Iran have drawn down American stocks.
Furientis has a funded Pentagon contract to build mid-range interceptors. Its stated goal is 1,000 systems a year from each factory. It is not alone. Anduril, Castelion and Shield AI are all chasing mass-produced interceptors with far more capital behind them.
The undisclosed numbers are the ones that decide this: the unit price, the value of the Pentagon contract, and whether any of those launches has hit a target. A launch is not an intercept, and 1,000 a year is a goal for a factory that has not been announced.
