Company
Shield AI
American defense-autonomy company (San Diego, founded 2015 by Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter) building the Hivemind AI pilot and the V-BAT VTOL…
- Founded
- 2015
- HQ
- San Diego, California, USA
- Status
- private
Appears inMilitary & defense drones
Funding
$2.0B
Models
2
Overview
American defense-autonomy company (San Diego, founded 2015 by Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter) building the Hivemind AI pilot and the V-BAT VTOL drone. Hivemind flies aircraft without GPS, communications, or a human pilot. Raised $2B at a $12.7B valuation in March 2026; Gary Steele became CEO in 2025 (effective May).
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
DEPLOY Intelligence
Market intelligence for physical AI
Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.
Key facts
Founded
2015, San Diego, by Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter
Valuation
$2B Series G at $12.7B (Mar 2026); prior $240M at $5.3B (Mar 2025)
Revenue
~$540M projected for 2026 (2025 ~$300M); not yet profitable
Leadership
CEO Gary Steele (announced Mar 2025, effective May 2025); co-founder Ryan Tseng is President
Software
Hivemind AI pilot / autonomy stack (flies aircraft GPS- and comms-denied)
Data & sources
Press releases
4
News coverage
5
Web sources
3
12 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (2)
View all models →Current platform
Hivemind
Shield AI's Hivemind is an AI autonomy software 'pilot' that enables aircraft and other platforms to operate without GPS or remote pilots using visual-odometry navigation and AI decision-making in GPS/comms-denied environments; it powers the V-BAT and is offered to third-party platforms.
Current platform
Shield AI V-BAT
Group 3 VTOL fixed-wing ISR/targeting drone (designated MQ-35) that takes off and lands vertically from a small footprint, powered by the Hivemind autonomy stack and resilient in GPS- and communications-denied environments. Fielded in Ukraine and selected by the US Coast Guard. (V-BAT Teams is a multi-aircraft capability, not a separate model.)
Shield AI on the deployment map
Where Shield AI's robots are verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
- delivery and inspection drones in United States →
- delivery and inspection drones in California →
- delivery and inspection drones in Ukraine (combat zones) →
- delivery and inspection drones in Nevada →
- delivery and inspection drones in United Kingdom →
- delivery and inspection drones in China →
- The global deployment map →
Relationships
Claims ledger
Public, dated claims by Shield AI, each tracked against the evidence. Status is a DEPLOY assessment from primary sources: verified means an independent source confirms it; contradicted means one refutes it; open means the outcome is not yet determinable. Every entry keeps its verbatim quote and source so you can check the call yourself.
- VerifiedCustomer · claimed 2026-06-15
“Shield AI completes acquisition of Aechelon Technology”
Acquisition completed. $2B Series G funding round. Shield AI is now valued at approximately $61B. https://shield.ai/
- VerifiedCustomer · claimed 2026-01-01
“Shield AI surpasses 130 V-BAT sorties in Ukraine in partnership with Ukrainian forces”
130+ combat sorties in Ukraine confirmed by Shield AI. V-BAT demonstrated "exceptional performance in contested electromagnetic conditions." This is combat-verified autonomous operation. https://shield.ai/v-bat/
- VerifiedCapability · claimed 2026-01-01
“Built for GPS- and communications-denied environments, V-BAT has demonstrated exceptional performance in contested electromagnetic conditions”
Ukraine operations are in a GPS-denied, EW-contested environment. 130+ sorties confirm the V-BAT can operate in these conditions. This is one of the strongest combat-verified autonomy claims in the defense drone space.
- OpenCapability · claimed 2026-01-01
“V-BAT Teams enables multiple V-BATs to autonomously execute missions in electronically contested environments while reading and reacting to”
Multi-drone autonomous team operations have been demonstrated (YouTube video) but not independently verified in combat at scale. Single V-BAT autonomy is combat-verified; multi-drone teaming is demonstrated but not yet combat-proven. https://shield.ai/v-bat/
Disagree with a status? Shield AI can submit a correction with evidence and we log the response on the record. Methodology and the full industry ledger live at /stats/claim-integrity.
Explainers
Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Shield AI, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.
- What is an autonomous drone?
An autonomous drone is an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) whose flight is directed by onboard AI + autonomy stack rather than continuous human remote-piloting. Per DEPLOY's framework, the cohort splits across three classes with distinct verification anchors: new-defense (Anduril Roadrunner/Fury/Ghost/Bolt + Helsing HX-2/HF-1 + Shield AI V-BAT + Quantum Systems + Neros); legacy-prime (General Atomics MQ-9 lifecycle); commercial-civilian (Skydio + Zipline + Wing + Matternet + Brinc + Wingcopter + XAG + Percepto + Flytrex). Gating events split by class: BVLOS regulatory clearance for commercial; DoD contracts + fielded systems for defense. Editorial discipline: remotely-piloted-vs-autonomous honesty matters; MQ-9 + TB2 + Neros Archer are recorded as remotely-piloted, not autonomous. The framework resists 'drone = AI' inflation.
- What is Shield AI?
Shield AI is the alternate Western new-defense AI-first drone + defense systems company. The flagship V-BAT operates as commercial fielded systems with US defense; the Hivemind autonomy stack operates as a separate Brain entity per DEPLOY registry (Agent A corrected an earlier cross-property conflation that miswired Hivemind to Anduril). V-BAT + Hivemind together form one of the more substantive verified autonomy stacks in the new-defense cohort. The Hivemind-vs-Lattice contrast (Shield AI's vs Anduril's brain stacks) makes the technical-substrate distinction legible. Per DEPLOY's framework, Shield AI anchors new-defense AI-first class alongside Anduril + Helsing.
- What is the Shield AI V-BAT?
The V-BAT is a vertical-takeoff surveillance and reconnaissance drone from Shield AI, designated the MQ-35. It takes off and lands vertically from a small footprint, runs Shield AI's Hivemind autonomy stack, and is built to keep working when GPS and communications are jammed. It is at the production stage, fielded in Ukraine and selected by the US Coast Guard.
- Is the V-BAT autonomous?
Yes on flight autonomy, with one honest split. The Shield AI V-BAT runs the Hivemind autonomy stack and is built to keep flying in GPS-denied and communications-denied conditions, which is verified on the registry. The multi-aircraft swarm and contested-environment performance, however, are Shield AI's own claims.
Current leadership (11)
- Sharyl Givens Chief People OfficerIR-verified
- Brandon Tseng Co-founder & Presidentsecondary-verified
- Gary Steele CEOsecondary-verified
- Ryan Tseng President & Chief Strategy OfficerIR-verified
- Michael Yang Chief Legal OfficerIR-verified
- Brian Peterson Chief Information OfficerIR-verified
- Andrew Reiter Co-founder & Technical Fellow (former CTO)IR-verified
- Nathan Michael Chief Technology OfficerIR-verified
- Kingsley Afemikhe Chief Financial OfficerIR-verified
- Frank Dimina Chief Revenue OfficerIR-verified
- Chandra Rangan Chief Marketing OfficerIR-verified
Founders (3)
- Brandon Tsengcofounderfounded 2015-01-01
- Ryan Tsengcofounderfounded 2015-01-01
- Andrew Reitercofounderfounded 2015-01-01
Board (8)
- Andrew Berlin chair
- Gary Steele director
- Peter Levine director
- Stephen Marcus director
- Daniel Gwak director
- Gaetano Crupi director
- Doug Philippone director
- Shivon Zilis director
Former / Previously (1)
- Ryan Tseng Co-founder & former CEOsecondary-verified
Safety record
No incidents on record for Shield AI.
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)
- United States Coast Guard1 deployment
Brains developed (1)
- Shield AI Hivemindfoundation-model · production
Recent coverage
Shield AI in third-party press
Peer companies
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Amazon4 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
Supplied by (2)
Compute / semiconductor
- NVIDIAvia Shield AI V-BATNVIDIA GPU (specific model undisclosed; Shield AI describes 'modular Nvidia GPU upgrade') running Hivemind autonomy AI pilot -- provides onboard AI compute for autonomous multi-drone swarming, electronic warfare navigation, and GPS-denied operation in the V-BAT Teams configurationsupplies
Inbound supply edges feeding this company directly or via the models it owns. Same source bar as the outbound view (verified against at least two strong sources).
Financial state
- Reporting basis
- private_reported
- Lifecycle stage
- growth
- Counterparty risk class
- low
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 (4)
- US Air Force CCA Mission Autonomy x Shield AI with US Air Forcedeployment
- Shield AI x US Air Force CCA Production Contract with US Air Forcedeployment
- Northrop Grumman x Shield AI with Northrop Grummantechnology
- Shield AI acquires Aechelon Technology with Aechelon Technologytechnologyconcluded
Funding rounds (6)
- Series G2026-06-15
$2.0B(reported)
- Series G2026-03-26
$1.5B · $12.7B post
Investors: Advent International (lead), JPMorgan (lead), Blackstone
- Series F-12025-03-06
$240M · $5.3B post
Investors: Hanwha (strategic), L3Harris (strategic) (strategic), Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) (strategic)
- Series F2023-10-01
$200M(reported) · $2.7B post
Investors: U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (co_lead), Riot Ventures (co_lead), Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
- Series E2022-06-09
$165M(reported) · $2.3B post
Investors: Snowpoint Ventures (lead), Riot Ventures, Disruptive (defense-tech VC), Homebrew, Point72 Ventures
- Series C2021-02-23
$90M(reported)
Investors: Point72 Ventures (lead), Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Sources (12)
- https://shield.ai/shield-ai-raises-240m-at-5-3b-valuation-to-scale-hivemind-enterprise-an-ai-powered-autonomy-developer-platform/
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shield-ai-raises-240m-at-5-3b-valuation-to-scale-hivemind-enterprise-an-ai-powered-autonomy-developer-platform-302393843.html
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/06/shield-ai-raises-240-million-at-a-5-3-billion-valuation-to-commercialize-its-ai-drone-tech/
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-06/drone-defense-startup-shield-ai-lands-5-3-billion-valuation
- https://shield.ai/shield-ai-to-acquire-software-simulation-company-aechelon-and-raise-2b-at-12-7b-valuation/
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-26/defense-startup-shield-ai-nabs-2-billion-at-12-7-billion-value
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/defense-startup-shield-ai-lands-12-7b-valuation-up-140-after-u-s-air-force-deal/
- https://fortune.com/2026/03/26/shield-ai-revenue-series-g-funding-12-billion-valuation/
- https://shield.ai/shield-ai-appoints-gary-steele-as-ceo-ryan-tseng-named-president/
- https://fortune.com/2025/12/21/shield-ai-ukraine-defense-tech-gary-steele/
- https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/institute/shield-ai-co-founder-shares-10-year-journey-reimagining-air-power/
- https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/09/shield-ais-founder-on-death-drones-in-ukraine-and-the-ai-weapon-no-one-wants/
Market intelligence
Hiring signals
Role composition
Recent openings
- Senior Electrical Engineer, Hardware Test (R5154)Engineering
X-BAT Division · Dallas, Texas
- Senior Electrical Engineer, Hardware Test (R5099)Engineering
V-BAT Division · Dallas, Texas
- Electrical Engineer, Hardware Test (R5099)Engineering
V-BAT Division · Dallas, Texas
- Principal Engineer, Software (R5285)Engineering
Hivemind Special Division · United States
- Principal Engineer, Software (R5284)Engineering
Hivemind Special Division · United States
- Manager, Engineering - Software Integration (R5237)Engineering
Hivemind Platform Division · San Diego, California
+4 more open roles tracked
Common questions
- What is Shield AI?
- American defense-autonomy company (San Diego, founded 2015 by Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter) building the Hivemind AI pilot and the V-BAT VTOL drone. Hivemind flies aircraft without GPS, communications, or a human pilot. Raised $2B at a $12.7B valuation in March 2026; Gary Steele became CEO in 2025 (effective May).
- What does Shield AI make?
- Shield AI has 2 robot models on the DEPLOY registry: Hivemind, Shield AI V-BAT (Shield AI builds both physical robots and the AI that runs them).
- Is Shield AI publicly traded?
- No. Shield AI is privately held and not publicly traded, per the DEPLOY registry.
- Who competes with Shield AI?
- On the DEPLOY registry, peer companies to Shield AI building in the same form factors include Anduril Industries, DJI, Boston Dynamics, Robotphoenix.
- Who is the CEO of Shield AI?
- Gary Steele is the ceo of Shield AI, per the DEPLOY registry.
- How can I invest in Shield AI?
- Shield AI is a private company; its shares are not available on public markets, so retail investors cannot buy the stock today. It has raised $2.0B in disclosed funding.
- Where is Shield AI headquartered?
- Shield AI is headquartered in San Diego, California, USA.
- How much funding has Shield AI raised?
- Shield AI has raised approximately $2.0B in disclosed funding on record in the DEPLOY registry.
- Who owns Shield AI?
- Shield AI is privately held and venture-backed ($2.0B raised); ownership sits with its founders and private investors.
- Where does Shield AI operate robots?
- Shield AI is a robot manufacturer and does not directly operate deployments on the DEPLOY registry. Its products are deployed by customer operators; see the company page for the verified deployment record.
- Is Shield AI a top robotics company?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, Shield AI ranks in roughly the top 2% of companies tracked by the registry.
- When was Shield AI founded?
- Shield AI was founded in 2015.
- Is Shield AI safe?
- Shield AI has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 12 sources (4 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-08
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-08
Sources by quality tier
- 4
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 3
- secondary-industry-publication
- Industry publication
- 3
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 2
- secondary-established-publication
- Established publication
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Shield AI.Peer companies
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Amazon4 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Shield AI from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
New Pentagon unmanned czar will oversee most drone programs
The Pentagon established a new office to oversee tens of billions of dollars in drone programs across the entire military according to a memo. The unmanned czar will coordinate…
Poland buys V-BAT drones to boost Baltic Sea naval operations
The deal puts Poland in line to become the first country on NATO’s eastern flank to acquire the Shield AI-made drone.
Poland buys V-BAT drones to boost Baltic Sea naval operations
The deal puts Poland in line to become the first country on NATO’s eastern flank to acquire the Shield AI-made drone.
Air Force picks Anduril, General Atomics to build first operational CCA drones
The U.S. Air Force selected Anduril and General Atomics for CCA production. Anduril produces FQ-42A, General Atomics FQ-44A. Shield AI and Collins also received autonomy software…
Anduril and General Atomics win contracts to build drone wingmen for US Air Force
The US Air Force awarded production contracts to Anduril and General Atomics to build the first operational CCA drone wingmen. Shield AI and Collins Aerospace also received…
Shield AI awarded US Air Force production contract for collaborative combat autonomy
Shield AI awarded US Air Force production contract. Focus on implementing collaborative combat autonomy behaviors involving multiple autonomous aircraft.
Shield AI completes acquisition of Aechelon Technology
Shield AI completed its acquisition of Aechelon Technology following the close of its 2B strategic financing package, which includes 1.5B in Series G equity and 500M in debt.
Shield AI to acquire Aechelon and raise B at 2.7B valuation
Shield AI raising B (.5B Series G + 00M) at 2.7B post-money valuation. Acquiring Aechelon Technology for simulation. More than doubled from .3B in one year.
Defense Startup Shield AI Nabs B at 2.7B Value
Shield AI raised B at 2.7B valuation, more than doubling from .3B in one year. Acquiring Aechelon Technology.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/shield-ai.md
- RSS feed: /companies/shield-ai/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/d931700f-6b76-42d2-bdac-2123c2f26f1b
- Revision history: /companies/shield-ai/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Amazon4 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
Video
Shield AI is an official technology partner of 23XI Racing, delivering the same edge on the track that we deliver to the warfighter. As part of the partnershi
Reality vs attention
Shield AI draws attention at the 92nd percentile but verifies reality at the 77th percentile among aerial robots. Hype Gap +15.5, 19th widest among aerial robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Well-capitalized with $4.2B raised and recent funding activity. Clean safety record across 3 verified deployments. Deployment footprint remains limited relative to category 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: Jul 15, 2026