Defence technology company Cambridge Aerospace has raised $300 million at a valuation of $3.4 billion, two years after it was founded, in a series C funding round led by the San Francisco-based investor DFJ Growth.
The round takes the company’s total funding to $636 million since it was set up in 2024. The money will be used to expand development of its missile and drone interceptor systems and its manufacturing capabilities.
The company is developing Skyhammer, a low-cost anti-drone interceptor that is in production, and Starhammer, a rocket-powered interceptor missile built for higher-speed targets such as cruise missiles, which is due to come to market next year.
The Ministry of Defence announced in April that it was purchasing Skyhammer air defence systems, with deliveries starting from May. Skyhammer, which began development in January 2025, has a range of more than 18 miles and a top speed of 430mph, enabling it to intercept drones and low-speed missiles.
The latest raise follows a $200 million round in April at a $1.3 billion valuation, which took the company into the ranks of the UK’s billion-dollar start-ups. That round was co-led by the entrepreneur and investor Elad Gil and the venture capital firm Spark Capital. Gil also invested in the new round, alongside Lux, Accel and Lakestar among others.
Steven Barrett, chief executive, said the company had a “singular mission to protect Allied skies” and that the funds “will allow us to continue to scale our manufacturing and our delivery to meet the pace of threats”. The company is in talks with the US government.
Barrett relocated to Cambridge in 2024 to become regius professor of engineering at the university, having previously been head of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He decided to launch the company after assessing “where I wanted to contribute in aerospace engineering”.
“Ukraine feels very close when you move back to the UK after a period thousands of miles away,” he said. “And it seems really obvious that we had a desperate need for cost-effective air defence. You can see that every day in the news and that was obvious even a couple of years ago.”
He has said the company is able to produce its interceptors at a lower cost and greater volume using technology, such as artificial intelligence, and its “highly driven, ambitious talent”.
Cambridge Aerospace employs about 250 people, mostly in the UK. Chris Sylvan, its chief commercial officer, is a former Royal Marine.
Sir Grant Shapps stepped down as the company’s chairman in April after the former Conservative defence secretary was found to have breached the rules on ex-ministers’ business appointments. Shapps, who lost his seat at the 2024 general election, was defence secretary from August 2023 to July 2024.
In March, Cambridge Aerospace was among 13 UK-based defence firms that met Gulf ambassadors at an MoD-convened meeting to discuss equipment and technology that could support regional allies in countering Iranian drone and missile attacks. In June, it signed a deal with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to build a manufacturing facility in Japan, part of a broader technology partnership between the UK and Japan.
Randy Glein, managing partner at DFJ Growth, said Cambridge Aerospace had developed “an affordable and accurate counter-UAS [unmanned aircraft system] for eliminating the inbound threats and battlefield chaos caused by low-cost aerial attack drones”.
He added: “We surveyed the global landscape and identified Cambridge as having the best team and technology to build the most advanced and modern air defence infrastructure for Europe and its allies.”
The government is working to focus more state procurement on UK start-up and scale-up companies to accelerate their growth.
Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, said: “It is exactly what our unicorn scheme is designed to create: British start-ups scaling into billion-pound companies, creating skilled jobs, cementing the UK’s position at the forefront of defence innovation.”
