The verified answer
As of Aug 2026, DEPLOY verifies Shield AI: 2 models, 5 deployments across 5 regions, $2.0B raised, 1 active incident. 13 sources back the record.
CategoryDrones
Appears inMilitary & defense drones
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
- 5 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- 1 incident on file
Valuation of record
DEPLOY VERIFIEDPriced roundSeries G post-money
Key facts
Founded
Revenue
Leadership
Software
Data & sources
Press releases
4
News coverage
5
Patent documents
1
Web sources
3
13 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
View the global map5 verified deployments across 5 regions, newest verified Jun 2026. Explore where Shield AI's robots are operating, by place and type.
View the full Shield AI deployment record →
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?
What is Shield AI?
What is the Shield AI V-BAT?
Is the V-BAT autonomous?
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
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 →
Incidents affecting Shield AI (1)
Includes incidents linked directly to this company, to its models, or to deployments of its models or under its operation. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Operator customers (1)
- Shield AI5 deployments
Brains developed (1)
- Shield AI Hivemindfoundation-model · production
Recent coverage
Shield AI in third-party press
Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Amazon4 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 (5)
- 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
- Shield AI x Palantir AI-powered autonomous aircraft with Palantirtechnology
- Northrop Grumman x Shield AI with Northrop Grummantechnology
- Shield AI acquires Aechelon Technology with Aechelon Technologytechnologyconcluded
Funding rounds (6)
Shield AI’s 6 disclosed rounds, $4.2B in total, oldest to newest.
- 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)
Patent estate (1)
- US10486808B2usptograntedgranted 2019-11-26assignee
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJul 26, 2026
Shield AI V-BAT photo
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 17, 2026
Hivemind at U.S. Air Force CCA Program, USA
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 11, 2026
Autonomous Teaming at the Edge | V-BAT + Destinus Hornet Powered by...
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 4, 2026
Shield AI V-BAT autonomous teams
- Record createdMay 31, 2026
Added to the verified registry
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 Staff Engineer, Computer Vision (C++) (R5197)Research & R&D
Hivemind Solutions Division · Melbourne
- Senior Engineer, Computer Vision (C++) (R5195)Research & R&D
Hivemind Solutions Division · Melbourne
- Senior Engineer, Autonomy (R5182)Engineering
Hivemind Solutions Division · Melbourne
- Manager, Business Development (R5377)Business
AI Hive · New Delhi
- Senior Business Development Lead - Hivemind - UK (R5010)Business
Growth Division · London
- Business Development Lead, Netherlands (R5380)Business
Growth Division · Amsterdam
+4 more open roles tracked
Common questions
What is Shield AI?
What does Shield AI make?
Is Shield AI publicly traded?
Who competes with Shield AI?
Who is the CEO of Shield AI?
How can I invest in Shield AI?
Where is Shield AI headquartered?
How much funding has Shield AI raised?
Who owns Shield AI?
Where does Shield AI operate robots?
How many robots has Shield AI deployed?
Is Shield AI a top robotics company?
When was Shield AI founded?
Are there any incidents involving Shield AI?
Is Shield AI safe?
Methodology: Verified · 12 sources (4 primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-05
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-05
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
- Roborock20 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Amazon4 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Shield AI from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Shield AI, Taiwan expand deal after drone swarm success
Three Taiwanese-built drones have searched a stretch of contested airspace together, coordinated by artificial intelligence rather than a room full of human pilots, and the…
Shield AI and Taiwan's NCSIST complete autonomous swarm exercise and expand sovereign AI and Autonomy efforts
Shield AI and Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) completed an autonomous swarm exercise and expanded cooperation on sovereign AI and…
Shield AI and Thunder Tiger complete maritime teaming demo in Taiwan
Shield AI and Thunder Tiger Corp. announced the successful completion of Hivemind’s first multi-asset autonomous teaming demonstration on water, validating Shield AI’s Hivemind AI…
Shield AI and Thunder Tiger complete Hivemind's first multi-asset autonomous maritime teaming demonstration in Taiwan
Shield AI and Thunder Tiger completed the first multi-asset autonomous maritime teaming demonstration of Shield AI Hivemind in Taiwan, integrating unmanned surface and aerial…
Honeywell Aerospace, Shield AI collaborate to advance development of autonomous aircraft
Shield AI and Honeywell Aerospace announced a collaboration to advance development of autonomous aircraft, pairing Shield AI Hivemind autonomy software with Honeywell aerospace…
Shield AI and GE Aerospace light off X-BAT engine, completing thrust vectoring nozzle integration and clearing path to vertical flight
Shield AI and GE Aerospace completed X-BAT engine light-off and thrust-vectoring nozzle integration, clearing the path to vertical flight for the X-BAT VTOL unmanned aircraft.
L3Harris and Shield AI complete autonomous electronic warfare flight test
L3Harris and Shield AI completed an autonomous electronic warfare flight test, integrating L3Harris EW payloads with Shield AI Hivemind-enabled V-BAT unmanned aircraft.
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…
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
- Roborock20 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- Robotphoenix5 models
- Amazon4 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 91st percentile but verifies reality at the 86th percentile among aerial robots. Hype Gap +4.8, 54th widest among aerial robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Well-capitalized with $4.2B raised and recent funding activity. Safety profile within acceptable range for category. Thin IP estate 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: Aug 18, 2026