AI pilots and autonomous aircraft — Hivemind software that flies aircraft on their own
HQ: San Diego, CA, United States | Founded: 2015 | Employees: ~1,000 (2026, est.) | Stage: Late Stage VC (Series G) | Website: https://shield.ai
Shield AI was founded in 2015 in San Diego by Ryan Tseng (CEO, who previously founded WiPower, acquired by Qualcomm), Brandon Tseng (President, a former Navy SEAL officer who served seven years), and Andrew Reiter (CTO, ex-Google). The company's founding mission was to build AI pilots — software that lets aircraft operate autonomously without GPS, datalinks, or human pilots — inspired by the founders' conviction that the future of air combat is machine-speed and software-defined.
Its core product is Hivemind, an AI pilot stack that has achieved a series of world firsts: the first autonomous multi-aircraft swarm flight, the first AI-piloted F-16 (flying the X-62 VISTA with the U.S. Air Force in 2024), and operation aboard platforms from GA-ASI's MQ-20 Avenger to Kratos drones. Hivemind Enterprise, launched in 2025, is an autonomy developer platform that lets partners add AI pilots to their own aircraft. Shield AI also manufactures the V-BAT, a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft that has seen operational use with U.S. Special Operations and allied forces, and the newer MQ-35 V-BAT.
Commercially, Shield AI has raised over $2 billion — a $165M Series E at $2.3B (June 2022), an expanded ~$300M Series F at $2.8B (2023-2024), and a $2B Series G at a $12.7B post-money valuation in March 2026 led by Advent International with JPMorgan's Security and Resiliency Initiative — plus ~$500M in preferred equity. The V-BAT won a $198 million U.S. Coast Guard contract (July 2024) for maritime unmanned aircraft services, and the company continues to land U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army work, with an IPO widely anticipated for 2026-27.
Shield AI is the purest bet on the thesis that AI — not just autonomy, but AI pilots — will transform air combat. Hivemind's achievement of flying an F-16 without a human pilot (with the Air Force, 2024) and flying multi-aircraft swarms is unmatched by any startup, and the V-BAT gives it a production drone business with real contracts ($198M Coast Guard award) while Hivemind Enterprise licenses the AI pilot to other platforms. The $2B Series G at $12.7B (March 2026) with an IPO rumored for 2026-27 reflects deep conviction in defense AI. The bull case is that Hivemind becomes the 'Android of military aircraft' — the standard AI pilot for allied fleets; the bear case is platform risk (defense programs move slowly), competition from Anduril and primes, and the perennial question of how quickly AI-pilot revenue scales beyond contracts.
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