High-power microwave systems that take down drone swarms
HQ: Torrance, CA, United States | Founded: 2018 | Employees: Not disclosed; roughly 300-500 based on public reporting (estimate) | Stage: Private; about $537M raised; $250M Series D in March 2025; last disclosed valuation ~$1.35B (2022) | Website: https://www.epirusinc.com
Epirus was founded in July 2018 in Torrance, California by Nathan Mintz, Dr. Bo Marr, Max Mednik, Joe Lonsdale, Grant Verstandig and John Tenet. The founding team combined defense investing, hardware engineering and experience building RF and power-electronics systems, and they set out to commercialize a new generation of high-power microwave technology. The key technical bet was gallium nitride (GaN) solid-state amplifiers, which are more efficient and modular than the vacuum-tube systems used in older directed-energy designs. That allows Epirus to build compact, scalable HPM systems rather than one-off laboratory prototypes.
The company's flagship product is Leonidas, a counter-electronics system that emits a focused microwave beam. Unlike a jammer, which interferes with a drone's control or GPS signal, HPM can damage or destroy the electronics inside multiple drones at once, including autonomous drones that do not rely on a radio link. Epirus markets Leonidas for counter-UAS, counter-swarm and electronic-warfare missions, with fixed, mobile and expeditionary configurations.
Epirus raised a $200M Series C in February 2022 at a $1.35B valuation, with T. Rowe Price and 8VC among the lead investors, bringing total funding at that time to about $287M. In March 2025 it raised a $250M Series D led by 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners, taking total funding to about $537M. The capital funded manufacturing scale-up, the Leonidas Expeditionary variant and work on the Army's IFPC-HPM program.
The contract history has been steady but not linear. Epirus won a $66.1M Army prototyping contract in January 2023, delivered IFPC-HPM systems, and in July 2025 received a $43.5M award for two Generation II systems. It has also worked with the Marine Corps, the Office of Naval Research and the Joint Counter-small UAS Office, including an $11M Marine Corps contract and the Leonidas Expeditionary system. ExDECS, an expeditionary directed-energy counter-UAS system, is another delivered product. The common thread is a shift from technology demonstrations to program-of-record ambitions, which is where defense startups either become durable suppliers or stall.
The procurement picture is the central uncertainty. The Army's IFPC-HPM effort was structured as a prototyping and experimentation program rather than a large production buy, and in April 2026 the Congressional Research Service reported that the Army planned no further procurement after the two Generation II prototypes. At the same time, drone defense demand is rising across the services and allies, and HPM is attractive because it offers a deep magazine and low cost per engagement. Epirus's strategy is to diversify across Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and allied customers, and to position Leonidas as a modular capability that can be integrated into multiple platforms rather than a single program.
Epirus is one of the most visible pure-play directed-energy companies in the new defense-tech wave, and its core product addresses a problem the Pentagon cannot ignore. Cheap drones and drone swarms have changed the economics of air defense: shooting a $500 quadcopter with a million-dollar missile is unsustainable, and guns and jammers have limited range and magazine depth. Epirus's Leonidas uses solid-state gallium nitride amplifiers to generate a high-power microwave beam that can disrupt or disable the electronics of multiple drones at once, with a deep magazine and a cost per shot that is effectively the cost of electricity.
The company was founded in 2018 by a group of entrepreneurs and defense investors, including Nathan Mintz, Bo Marr, Joe Lonsdale and Grant Verstandig, and it recruited Andy Lowery, a former Navy reactor operator and Raytheon electronic-warfare engineer, as CEO. It raised a $200M Series C in February 2022 at a $1.35B valuation, then a $250M Series D in March 2025 led by 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners, bringing total funding to about $537M. That capital funded the transition from demonstrations to military programs: Leonidas was selected for the Army's Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Power Microwave (IFPC-HPM) effort, and Epirus has delivered systems, won a $66.1M prototyping contract and a $43.5M award for two Generation II systems.
The customer base has broadened beyond the Army. Epirus has Marine Corps and Navy contracts, including a Leonidas Expeditionary variant developed with the Office of Naval Research and the Joint Counter-small UAS Office, and an $11M Marine Corps award. It has also delivered ExDECS, an expeditionary directed-energy counter-UAS system. The pitch to each service is similar: a modular HPM effect that can be integrated onto vehicles, fixed sites or expeditionary platforms, with lower logistics burden than kinetic interceptors and the ability to engage multiple threats per engagement.
The risk is that defense procurement is not a straight line. In April 2026 the Congressional Research Service reported that the Army planned no further IFPC-HPM procurement after the two Generation II prototypes, and the Army's budget is shifting microwave funding toward other efforts. That does not kill Epirus — it still has Marine Corps, Navy and allied opportunities, and the technology is dual-use across counter-UAS and electronic warfare — but it shows how dependent the company is on a small number of program decisions. Revenue is lumpy, contracts are awarded in stages, and scaling production requires capital and manufacturing capacity before demand is certain.
The bull case is that drone defense becomes a permanent, high-volume requirement, and Epirus's solid-state HPM is the best non-kinetic solution at scale. The bear case is that the Pentagon spreads money across many vendors, HPM remains a niche capability, and larger primes with more manufacturing and political leverage capture the production programs. Epirus has the technology and the early contracts; the open question is whether it can turn them into a durable franchise.
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