Saronic fetches $175M in Series B round

Saronic, a maker of autonomous surface vessels founded 2022, has captured approximately $175 million in Series B capital with an eye toward using those newfound funds to scale up its production posture.

The tech startup's touted valuation is now at approximately $1 billion with this raise, the company said Friday. 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Elad Gil and NightDragon are among the participating venture investments for this funding round led by Andreesen Horowitz.

Austin, Texas-headquartered Saronic also plans to put this new investment toward research-and-development initiatives focused on new autonomous capabilities for naval and maritime forces, including payload integration.

The Navy has prioritized robot ships in its vision to grow the overall fleet size, long-touted as 355 ships.

Saronic is looking to create a presence with the Navy both in the ASVs themselves and the augmenting hardware and software, such as the modular open systems architecture built into the vessels.

The company has developed two prototypes -- the six-foot Spyglass and fourteen-foot Cutlass. Both vessels use sensors to conduct missions on their own without the involvement of human operators.

Saronic was started by CEO Dino Mavrookas and Chief Commercial Officer Rob Lehman, respectively veterans of the Navy's Seal Team 6 and Marine Corps.