Let’s play a game. What company is less than three years old, builds unmanned vessels, and is worth $4B? Saronic, as it turns out. The Texas-based USV company announced today that it has raised a $600M Series C, quadrupling its valuation from last summer.
The round was led by Elad Gil, with participation from General Catalyst (new to the Saronic party), and existing investors including a16z, Caffeinated Capital, and 8VC.
Shipyard of the future: During a roundtable with reporters on Tuesday, Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas said that the funding would be used to build Port Alpha, an advanced ship manufacturing facility that will churn out bigger and badder unmanned vessels. The location for the futuristic shipyard is TBD, but Mavrookas said it would create thousands of jobs. Just last week, Saronic also announced that it is expanding its Austin production facility.
“We’re bringing shipbuilding back to the country in a way we haven’t seen since WW2,” Mavrookas said.
Saronic has so far made three vessels: the six-foot Spyglass, the 14-foot Cutlass, and the 24-foot Corsair. It’s long aimed to produce sea drones for the DoD’s Replicator Program and says it has multiple contracts with the Navy, but has declined to release details. Last fall, it received a $2M OTA from the Naval Sea Systems Command to produce “production-ready, inexpensive, maritime expeditionary” (PRIME) systems.
Dead in the water: China’s shipbuilding capacity is an estimated 240X bigger than that of the US. The Navy has for years failed against its shipbuilding goals and most of its major projects are behind schedule. That’s bad news for anyone worried about a future naval conflict, say, over Taiwan.
To fill this gap, the US Navy has pushed for hybrid fleets, where traditional manned ships are paired with groups of unmanned vessels. That’s where Saronic says it and Port Alpha come in – it will be able to produce thousands of ships to the Navy’s dozens.
But shipbuilding is a tricky industry and shipyards a notoriously tricky investment. The Navy has long had trouble finding enough skilled labor to build the ships it needs and has been plagued by supply chain woes.
When asked how he would address these challenges, Mavrookas said that the company would have to invest in the talent needed to build its vessels and push for “culture change” around shipbuilding. “There needs to be a mission that people can get centered around to bring the workforce back,” he said.
He also emphasized that the company planned to build Port Alpha as an advanced shipbuilding facility from the ground up, rather than apply “bandaids” to legacy infrastructure. According to Saronic co-founder and CCO Rob Lehman, the company will be able to ramp up production because it will not be constrained by the limits and regulations placed on legacy shipbuilding. “Let’s call it a capability delivery yard,” he said.
Mavrookas said he expects Port Alpha to open within five years.