Cambridge Aerospace, a UK company that makes low-cost interceptors to shoot down attack drones, announced on 10 August 2026 that it had raised $300m in a Series C round at a $3.4bn valuation. DFJ Growth led the round.
Lux, Accel, Lakestar, Never Lift, Ora Global and Elad Gil & Co also invested, according to law firm Winston Taylor, which advised the company. The round came four months after a $200m Series B at a $1.3bn valuation in April, so the valuation more than doubled in that time.
Randy Glein, founder and managing partner of DFJ Growth, said the firm had looked at the whole market before choosing Cambridge Aerospace as the company best placed to build modern air defence for Europe and its allies.
“We surveyed the global landscape and identified Cambridge as having the best team and technology to build the most advanced and modern air defence infrastructure for Europe and its allies.”Randy Glein, Founder and Managing Partner, DFJ Growth
What Cambridge Aerospace does
The company's first product, Skyhammer, is a radar-guided interceptor designed to destroy attack drones. The Register reported in April that it has a range of 30km, a top speed of 700km/h, weighs about 18kg and is launched from a tube, powered by a turbojet. The Next Web reported that it went from first sketch to flight test in six weeks.
Since its Series B, Cambridge Aerospace has won several contracts from the UK Ministry of Defence, including to supply low-cost interceptors to the UK Armed Forces, according to Pulse 2.0. An initial contract was announced by the Defence Secretary at the London Defence Conference, and the company was then included in the Low-Cost Effectors & Autonomous Platforms (LEAP) programme in July.
Its next product, Starhammer, is due on the market in 2027 and aimed at more advanced capabilities, according to The Next Web.
The company
Cambridge Aerospace was founded in late 2024 and is led by chief executive Steven Barrett, an aerospace engineer and Cambridge professor. Its leadership includes chief commercial officer Chris Sylvan, who served more than a decade in the Royal Marines, and Junaid Hussain, who has founded several technology companies. Student newspaper Varsity reported that the company is based in London, with a substantial base in the Cambridge area.
The company has more than 250 employees, about two-thirds of them in technical and engineering roles, and a presence in the UK, Germany, Poland, Norway, Ukraine and Australia. The Register put its headcount at more than 125 in April, so staff numbers roughly doubled in four months.
What the money is for
The company said the money would go towards expanding manufacturing to deliver existing and new contracts, continuing the step-by-step development of its current products and bringing new capabilities to market.
Winston Taylor said it had advised Cambridge Aerospace since its founding, including on a $30m seed round, a $100m Series A and the $200m Series B, which Elad Gil & Co and Spark Capital co-led. Together with the Series C, those rounds add up to $630m.
Company website: cambridgeaerospace.com