Funding will accelerate development of hypersonic deep-strike capability, expand operations across Europe and create hundreds of highly skilled jobs in the UK and Germany
Hypersonica, the British-German defence company developing sovereign hypersonic deep-strike systems for Europe and its allies, today announced a €100 million Series B financing round co-led by Lightspeed and General Catalyst, with continued participation from existing investors including Plural, 201 Ventures and Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND).
In an increasingly contested security environment, deterrence only works if adversaries know that Europe has the ability to act decisively, rapidly and at long-range. Europe needs a long-range precision strike deterrent that counters the capabilities of its adversaries – using hypersonic speed and manoeuvrability to render existing missile defence architectures obsolete.
Hypersonica’s Series B funding will accelerate development of its deep-strike systems, increase testing cadence and expand operations and reindustrialisation across Europe. The investment is expected to support the creation of hundreds of highly skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs across the UK and Germany.
The announcement comes as European governments move from debating the requirement for long-range strike capabilities to funding programmes designed to strengthen deterrence and enhance Europe’s ability to defend itself. The UK’s Defence Investment Plan allocates an initial £770 million over four years to the UK-German Deep Precision Strike (DPS) programme under the Trinity House Agreement, while a NATO-led multinational initiative announced in July envisages £37 billion of investment in DPS capabilities over the next decade. The challenge is no longer whether Europe needs these capabilities, but who can deliver a credible deterrent at the pace and cost European governments require.
Since its Series A financing, Hypersonica has emerged as the leading company to deliver Europe’s hypersonic deterrent. In February, the company successfully tested its prototype HS-1, achieving speeds above Mach 6 over a range exceeding 300 kilometres and becoming the first privately funded European defence company to hit this milestone. Moreover, the milestone was achieved at industry-beating cost-effectiveness, with a development model that reduces costs by more than 80% compared to conventional approaches. Since the February test flight, Hypersonica has expanded its engineering team, deepened engagement with governments and strengthened partnerships across the European defence industrial base.
Hypersonica co-founders Dr Philipp Kerth (CEO) and Dr Marc Ewenz (CTO) said: “The debate about whether Europe needs hypersonic deep-strike capability is over. Governments have recognised the requirement and begun funding programmes. The challenge now is delivery. Europe needs credible hypersonic long-range capability, and more value for every pound and euro it spends.
“We have shown that next-generation hypersonic systems can be developed in Europe faster and more affordably than conventional wisdom suggests. And we’re proud to be backed by investors who share our conviction that Europe should be able to develop and produce advanced strategic capabilities itself.
“Series B marks our transition from demonstration to delivery. This funding will accelerate development, increase testing cadence, support European reindustrialisation and help ensure Europe has access to sovereign capability developed and produced in Europe.”
Alexander Schmitt, Partner at Lightspeed, said: “Hypersonica is redefining how advanced defence capability gets built. The team pairs deep technical expertise with exceptional speed of execution, and the strength of our support reflects our confidence in both the technology and their ability to deliver.”
Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, President and Managing Director at General Catalyst, said: “Strategic autonomy begins with the ability to build critical technologies at speed, at scale and at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems. That is exactly what Philipp, Marc, and the Hypersonica team are doing. They combine the ambition to tackle one of Europe’s most critical capability gaps with the engineering excellence to actually solve it. As Europe invests in its security and resilience, it will be companies like Hypersonica that play a defining role in translating ambition into real capability.”
Hypersonica aims to develop hypersonic deep-strike systems by 2029 while building a broader European technology and manufacturing base.
Hypersonica develops, owns and controls its technology in Europe and remains focused on delivering sovereign, ITAR-free capability for European allies. While backed by global investors, the company’s mission remains unchanged: helping Europe move from dependency to sovereign capability and from strategic ambition to industrial reality.
Noah Note: A huge congrats to Hypersonica on this one. With the existence of Hypersonica Canada, as was noticed in the registry a few weeks ago, and the rumored desire of the company to expand into Canada I thought it was a fairly good time to start covering the company and their development.
Hypersonica is a very interesting company. They're fairly young, all things considered, have already conducted a test launch of their HS-1 hypersonic vehicle earlier this year at Andøya, a platform that reportwdly went from concept to flight in just nine Months.
It's a fairly impressive opening year for a company that can boast itself as Europe's first private Hypersonic defence company. That's a nice title isn't it? Of course with Canada looking to expand our deep precision stirke capabilities, it'll be interesting to see what a company like Hypersonica offers, and what their Canadian plans might be. There are a lot of opportunities out there, and on this front competition is fairly limited.
It provides some clear room to move in and jump at things, if a company is ready to jump into the Canadian ecosystem. Im excited to see what they do, but for now, we watch with noted interest.