Mach Industries Secures $300M Series C, Reaches $1.8B Valuation Following Exquadrum Acquisition

Mach Industries, a Huntington Beach-based defense manufacturer building advanced unmanned systems for modern defense, acquired Exquadrum Inc. in a deal valued at $50 million. It followed that announcement with the closing of a $300 million Series C round valuing the company at $1.8 billion. The round was led by Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital, valuing the company at $1.8 billion. The new investors join longstanding backers, including Bedrock Capital, Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures.

“If you are not vertically integrated, you cannot deliver these systems at scale,” said Ethan Thornton, chief executive and founder of Mach Industries. “The types of platforms to fight wars is shifting. It comes with a different set of technologies. We knew that we needed to vertically integrate and deliver for the other companies in the unmanned ecosystem.”

The company was an attractive acquisition because it is a supplier and has won contracts with various government agencies for its solid rocket motor technology. Founded in 2023, Mach Industries has five vehicles that are available and now have capacity to produce on the engine side.

“We did not arrive here by chance. After evaluating a range of potential partners, Mach emerged as the clear fit, combining unmatched technical and cultural alignment,” said Eric Schmidt, president and co-founder of Exquadrum, in a statement. “This was an intentional decision to bring together expertise, passion and vision to create an entirely new capability, purpose-driven to deliver real advantage to the warfighter in defense of our great country.”

Mach Industries has advanced five distinct vehicle programs in the three years since the company’s inception, with several undergoing battlefield use and production ramp this year. The acquisition of Exquadrum directly accelerates the next phase of that trajectory. By integrating Exquadrum’s propulsion and energetics capabilities in-house as Mach Energetics, Mach gains direct control over one of the most consequential variables in platform performance, enabling faster iteration across all five product lines and a tighter development-to-production cycle from motor to airframe.

“Exquadrum’s propulsion and energetic systems developed over the past two decades integrate directly with Mach’s platform work, enabling a unified approach spanning solid propulsion, pyrotechnics, munitions, warheads and other energetic technologies,” said Kevin Mahaffy, Exquadrum’s chief executive and co-founder, in a statement. “This combined capability expands the design space well beyond rockets, allowing us to deliver more capable, adaptable systems to meet a broader set of mission requirements.”

Exquadrum operates a 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Victorville. The facility is anchored by FORGE, its nearby energetics and rocket propulsion test site, enabling a tightly coupled development-to-production cycle.

“Things are changing fast. The government understands the urgency and importance just as much as we do,” said Thornton.

Information for this story was provided by Mach Industries.