Echodyne

Defense Tech · Radar · Counter-Drone

Acquisition

Shield AI buys counter-drone radar maker Echodyne in $5.3B deal

The acquisition doubles Shield's own valuation to $28.8 billion as it pushes counter-drone radar into civilian markets like stadiums and airports.

• Shield AI agreed to acquire Kirkland, Washington radar maker Echodyne for $5.3 billion, funding the deal with a $2.5 billion raise that includes $1 billion in Series H equity co-led by Disruptive and Innovation X Capital.
• Echodyne builds software-defined, metamaterials-based MESA radars that detect and track drones, deployed in hundreds of counter-drone and security systems across more than 40 countries.
• Of the $5.3 billion price, $4.8 billion is due at closing with up to $500 million more contingent on Echodyne hitting performance targets; the deal is expected to close in early 2027.
• Echodyne spun out of Intellectual Ventures in 2014 with a $15 million round led by Bill Gates and Madrona, raised roughly $200 million total, and was valued at just $485 million after its 2022 round.
• The funding behind the deal values Shield AI itself at $28.8 billion, more than double the $12.7 billion valuation it posted in a $2 billion raise just eight months earlier in March.
• GeekWire ranked the deal as the second-largest acquisition of a venture-backed private company in Washington state history, trailing only Okta's $6.5 billion purchase of Auth0 in 2021.
• The deal signals that defense-tech investors now want autonomy software and sensing bundled into a single counter-drone stack, as demand for C-UAS systems accelerates across military, government and civilian sites like stadiums and airports.