The verified answer
As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies Darkhive: 2 models, 4 deployments across 2 regions, $30.0M raised. 2 sources back the record.
CategoryDrones
Appears inMilitary & defense drones
Overview
Darkhive is a US-based autonomous drone company developing small unmanned aircraft for defense and public safety, providing autonomous surveillance and reconnaissance drones for military and first responder applications.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 4 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Valuation of record
DEPLOY VERIFIEDPriced roundSeries B post-money
Key facts
Total Fundingsee investors →
Series B
USAF Contract
Pentagon APFIT
APFIT Pentagon contract (primary NewsNation)
Prior federal and private capital (primary NewsNation)
Uncrewed aerial systems
Open system design
Data & sources
Web sources
2
2 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (2)
View all models →Current platform
Darkhive Autonomous Drone
Small autonomous unmanned aircraft system designed for defense and public safety applications, with onboard AI autonomy software.
Current platform
Darkhive Drone
Darkhive is a US-based autonomous drone company developing small unmanned aircraft for defense and public safety, providing autonomous surveillance and reconnaissance drones for military and first responder applications.
Partnerships
Every company Darkhive has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Pentagon2× joint
Most recent
- Pentagon x Darkhive 49.7M drone contract2026-06-17with Pentagonoperating
- Darkhive x Pentagon APFIT2026-05-07with Pentagonoperating
Darkhive on the deployment map
View the global map4 verified deployments across 2 regions, newest verified Jun 2024. Explore where Darkhive's robots are operating, by place and type.
- operationalDarkhive Drone at Germany, Europe →Western Europe · verified Jun 2024
- operationalDarkhive Autonomous Drone at United States (multiple hotel chains) →United States · verified Jun 2024
- operationalDarkhive Autonomous Drone at Germany, Europe →Western Europe · verified Jun 2024
- operationalDarkhive Drone at United States (multiple hotel chains) →United States · verified Jun 2024
View the full Darkhive deployment record →
Relationships
Current leadership (1)
- John Goodson Co-Founder & CEO
Founders (1)
Safety record
No incidents on record for Darkhive.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Operator customers (1)
- Darkhive4 deployments
Recent coverage
Darkhive in third-party press
Peers
99 peers across 1 segment. Every Darkhive competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
drone(99)
57 companies in this segment · moderately_concentrated (HHI 1809.2177305910177) · leader Anduril Industries at 3057%
- AEVEX Aerospacedirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Alta Aresdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- BRINC Dronesdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Dedronedirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Firestorm Labsdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Havocdirect competitor(inferred)strong
Financial state
- Total funding
- $30.0M
- Reporting basis
- private_reported
- Lifecycle stage
- early
- Counterparty risk class
- moderate
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships
2 total · 2 operating
Every company Darkhive has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- Pentagon x Darkhive 49.7M drone contract2026-06-17with Pentagonoperating
- Darkhive x Pentagon APFIT2026-05-07with Pentagonoperating
Most-frequent partners
- 1Pentagon2× joint
All 2 partnerships
open in the atlas →- Pentagon x Darkhive 49.7M drone contractwithPentagondeployment2026-06-17operating
- Darkhive x Pentagon APFITwithPentagondeployment2026-05-07operating
Funding rounds (1)
- Series B2026-06-01
$30M(reported) · $240M post
Investors: RTX Ventures (lead), Point72 Ventures (follow), Friends & Family Capital (follow)
Timeline
Every recorded move in Darkhive’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
PartnershipPentagon x Darkhive 49.7M drone contract
2026-06-17The Pentagon fast-tracked a 49.7M contract to Texas startup Darkhive for autonomous defense drones. Darkhive also raised 30M Series B led by RTX Ventures for US-produced open autonomous robotics systems for defense and public safety.
Funding roundSeries B funding round
2026-06-01Series B raising $30000000
PartnershipDarkhive x Pentagon APFIT
2026-05-07Darkhive awarded 9.7M Pentagon contract under APFIT program. Largest APFIT award to date. Scaling drone production and comms tech for U.S. troops.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdJul 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
Darkhive Drone at Germany, Europe
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
Darkhive Autonomous Drone at United States (multiple hotel chains)
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
Darkhive Autonomous Drone at Germany, Europe
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
Darkhive Drone at United States (multiple hotel chains)
Sources (2)
Common questions
What is Darkhive?
What does Darkhive make?
Is Darkhive publicly traded?
Who competes with Darkhive?
Who is the CEO of Darkhive?
How can I invest in Darkhive?
Where is Darkhive headquartered?
How much funding has Darkhive raised?
Who owns Darkhive?
Where does Darkhive operate robots?
How many robots has Darkhive deployed?
Is Darkhive a top robotics company?
Is Darkhive safe?
Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-09-29
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-09-29
Sources by quality tier
- 2
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Darkhive.Peer companies
- Amazon25 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Skydio6 models
- SIYI Technology5 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Darkhive from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Pentagon awards Darkhive drone company 9.7M contract
Darkhive received 9.7M Pentagon APFIT contract. Scaling drone production for U.S. troops.
Darkhive Raises 0M Series B for Autonomous Defense Drones
Darkhive raised 0M Series B led by RTX Ventures for U.S.-made autonomous defense drones, following a 9.7M Pentagon APFIT contract.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/darkhive.md
- RSS feed: /companies/darkhive/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/24ce5f25-7bd5-453d-aa4a-02a95a32cc35
- Revision history: /companies/darkhive/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Amazon25 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Skydio6 models
- SIYI Technology5 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
Video
LIVE from AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2025 Inside Unmanned Systems - John Goodson - Darkhive, Inc. #XPO25
DARKHIVE – AUTONOMOUS SWARM ROBOTICS FOR UNMANNED OPERATIONS AND FIELD INTELLIGENCE Darkhive develops advanced swarm robotics platforms designed to deploy coor
DARKHIVE – DISTRIBUTED AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS FOR SCALABLE UNMANNED OPERATIONS Darkhive develops intelligent unmanned platforms designed to operate collaboratively
Darkhive is US-based robotics company specializing in developing low-cost autonomous drones for the public safety and defense communities.
FLEETFORGE - A UXV fleet management platform optimized for the secure build, test, and deployment of accredited robotics autonomy software to edge systems withi
Heat Index
Category contender79/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Darkhive draws attention at the 24th percentile but verifies reality at the 62nd percentile among aerial robots. Hype Gap -37.5, 120th widest among aerial robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 4 verified deployments. Active fundraising activity with a recent closing. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Oct 2, 2026