Some of the biggest venture capital funds in America are backing a startup building missiles that fly faster than the speed of sound. But, why?

‍What’s happening:‍

• Hypersonic weapons startup Castelion has raised $100M USD in a new financing round
  

By the numbers:‍

• $70M USD was raised through equity and $30M USD was raised through debt
  
• Castelion has now raised a total of $114.2M in total funding since inception
  

The big idea:‍

• Castelion develops hypersonic weapons that care capable of flying five times faster than the speed of sound and can change direction during flight
  
• Castelion weapons are also being designed to be able to fly at exceptionally low altitudes where radar detection is either limited or non existent
  

Why it matters:‍

• Some of the most successful venture capital funds in Silicon Valley participated in the recent financing round, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, a16z and Lavrock Ventures
  

Going deeper:‍

• Castelion has already cut deals with the American military to conduct test flights of their missile hardware in order to safely experiment with simulated missions and deepen their understanding of hypersonic technology

‍