.@Saronic is partnering with @Castelion to launch a hypersonic missile off the back of an autonomous ship: “We're actually going to launch a hypersonic missile off the back of Marauder, an autonomous ship, before the Navy completes their first test of a hypersonic missile off of a manned vessel.” @hargsb @MavrookasD

In 2022, an investor drew Bryon Hargis a two-by-two matrix and put his company in the corner he called impossible. Over a hundred rejections followed. Today that company is valued at $13 billion. @hargsb, Co-founder and CEO of @Castelion , just closed a $1 billion Series C co-led by JPMorgan, Carlyle, and Andreessen Horowitz. But the more interesting story is what almost didn't happen. In the winter of 2022, after leaving @SpaceX to build hypersonic weapons, he was selling his 401k to make it through the month while his wife was expecting their second child. Here is how he described the rejection that stuck with him: "There was commercial, defense, software, hardware. He's like, you're on the quadrant of defense hardware, and not even in the middle of the quadrant. You're on the very corner. He's like, that's the realm of impossibility." He still remembers the exact phrase one investor used to describe the category: in the realm of the uninvestable. The market had not mispriced the technology risk. It had mispriced its own model. A decade of software-era venture had optimized for capital-light, fast-iterating businesses, and defense hardware failed every filter in that model: long cycles, heavy capex, a single customer with byzantine procurement. None of that made the category actually unfundable. It just made it invisible to investors running the wrong checklist. The turning point came less than a year later, when Andreessen Horowitz wrote a check. Doors that had been closed for a year opened within days. The technology had not changed. The willingness to underwrite it had. The lesson is not that defense tech is hot now. It is that the biggest returns tend to sit exactly where the standard model says not to look. We’d like to thank @AlphaSenseInc for sponsoring this episode! Full episode below 👇

Big milestone for SC funded @MuonSpace, which has closed an oversubscribed $250 million Series C, bringing total equity funding to $386 million+. The capital will help Muon scale constellation production and expand the Mission Foundry behind its next generation of space infrastructure. 11 satellites deployed. 100% mission success. 50+ more in development. Congratulations to CEO Jonny Dyer and the entire Muon team on what's next. More on the Series C:

.@Castelion just raised +$1B in a series C valuing the defense tech startup at $13B, (up from $2.8B in December). @hargsb says the capital will go toward “supercharging” production of the company’s first hypersonic weapon, Blackbeard, for which delivery begins next year. Development of a longer range hypersonic weapon and defensive systems are also in the works.

Castelion is proud to announce our $1 billion Series C. We’re growing fast and our mission hasn't changed: build the weapons required to deter the next major war, affordably, rapidly, and at massive scale. This funding accelerates Blackbeard production, develops a longer-range strike system, and starts work on defensive systems. Thank you to @JPMorgan Chase's Strategic Investment Group, @a16z, @OneCarlyle, @lightspeedvp, @LavrockVC, @AltimeterCap, @TRowePrice, @generalcatalyst, and #Interlagos# for backing that work.

"In what world is hurling half an F-35 at somebody an effective way to deter them?" For decades, a single hypersonic missile has cost as much as $50 million. @hargsb built SpaceX's Starshield business before founding @Castelion to make them affordable at scale, and keep America safe. Watch @AlexaLiautaud in conversation with Bryon. Chapters 00:00 — From South Georgia to Rocket Scientist 05:20 — Watching SpaceX Before Anyone Believed 08:22 — Quitting a Safe Career to Roll the Dice 13:23 — Breaking Into SpaceX 16:42 — Building Starshield and Why He Left SpaceX 22:56 — Peace Through Strength and the Case for Hypersonics 28:14 — The Hypersonics Problem No One Solved 31:10 — The SpaceX Playbook Everyone Gets Wrong 35:58 — Blackbeard's 10-Year Vision 41:50 — Who Succeeds at Castelion 49:00 — Inside the World's Largest Hypersonics Factory

We have two exciting announcements today as Cantos turns 10… First, we closed our new fund earlier this year. Canto IV is a $70M fund purpose-built to lead pre-seed and seed rounds. We oversubscribed, wanting to keep it right-sized for being a founder's most aligned first partner. Second, we launched our new look with help from our friends at @asimov_co! Cantos is so-named as an ode to epic poems, where grand stories are written in "cantos" rather than chapters. We view founders as the protagonists of today's epics and seek to back those whose deeds become the stuff of legend. Our new website is a testament to the scale of their ambitions, with visions from a future they will have shaped. Resonat in Æternum 🖋️

It was an honor to host @SecArmy at our headquarters. As threats evolve, producing hypersonic missiles rapidly at scale is required to build the American arsenal. We are grateful for the Army’s trust as we deliver the best munitions to protect our warfighters.

We're proud to share the @USNavy has awarded Castelion a $23.4M fixed-price order for 50 Blackbeard Hypersonic weapons, our first delivery order for the program. The award marks an important step in Blackbeard's transition from development and flight testing toward operationally relevant production. "Blackbeard was designed from the beginning to support our nation's conventional deterrence," said @hargsb, our Co-Founder & CEO. Read more:

K2 Space has been confirmed as a satellite bus provider for the @USSpaceForce Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global (PTS-G) initiative, which will launch to GEO in 2028. This announcement is a milestone for K2 as our first participation in a Pentagon program of record. Under the award announced by @USSF_SSC earlier this week, K2 will supply a satellite to our partners at @SESSpaceDefense, one of two primes on the contract. K2’s large, resilient satellites are built with the power and mass to deploy the anti-jam capabilities and consistent communications that the PTS-G constellation requires. Read more here:

We're partnering with @Saronic to launch Blackbeard from their Marauder (MUSV), a first-of-its-kind capability. "Blackbeard and Marauder will give our warfighters more shots, from more places, with fewer constraints," said our co-founder and CEO @hargsb. At-sea demonstration targeted for 2027. Read more here:

We're excited to join forces with @Castelion to integrate the Blackbeard hypersonic missile with our Marauder MUSV, demonstrating a first-of-its-kind maritime hypersonic launch capability. By pairing autonomous maritime platforms with hypersonics, we are advancing a more distributed and survivable approach to deterrence. Together, we're working to increase capability and capacity by combining autonomous maritime and hypersonic strike capabilities that are more affordable, scalable, and faster to field. With a demonstration targeted for 2027, both companies are investing in the production infrastructure needed to deliver these systems to the warfighter at greater scale and speed. Read more here: