Furientis, a startup aiming to mass-produce low-cost missile interceptors, has raised $25 million in a seed funding round. The investment was led by Benchmark, a Silicon Valley venture firm, marking its first pure defense startup investment.
The one-year-old company, whose name means “of fury” in Latin, has already secured a funded Pentagon contract to build mid-range interceptors. This seed round follows a $5 million pre-seed investment announced in May, bringing the startup's valuation to $125 million, according to a source familiar with the company.
Chetan Puttagunta, a general partner at Benchmark, noted that Furientis manufactured prototypes and conducted successful launches with just its pre-seed funding. The startup's co-founders, Brody Franzen and Aris Simsarian, bring aerospace and defense engineering experience, having previously worked at Virgin Galactic, Castelion, and Virgin Orbit.
Franzen stated that the U.S. military faces a shortage of expensive “exquisite” missiles, which can cost around $3 million each, to counter inexpensive threats. He highlighted that the U.S. Navy receives 300 to 500 interceptor missiles annually, while China claims a production rate of 3,000 anti-ship cruise missiles a month.
Furientis is focusing on designing and manufacturing systems that can be quickly assembled from readily available components, making each unit a fraction of the cost of legacy interceptors. The company is currently operating from its facility in Los Angeles and conducting trial launches in White Sands, New Mexico. Its ultimate goal is to manufacture 1,000 systems a year in each factory.