The Los Angeles-based firm secures major funding to scale up its radar solutions for unmanned aerial systems.
In a signal moment for the unmanned systems industry, CHAOS Industries announced that it has raised US $510 millionin a Series D funding round, bringing its valuation to approximately US $4.5 billion.
Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Los Angeles, CHAOS Industries develops radar and sensor platforms designed to detect drones, missiles and other airborne threats. As the company’s press release states, it builds “Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™) systems that give warfighters time to act against borders and autonomous threats.”
Funding to Accelerate Growth
The fresh capital, led by Valor Equity Partners with participation from investors such as 8VC and Accel, will enable CHAOS to expand its product development and scale up manufacturing. The company noted that this round comes just months after its previous funding milestone, bringing its total funding to over US $1 billion.
Co-founder and CEO John Tenet commented: “This funding is both validation of our long-term vision and a testament to the world-class team behind it—builders from Silicon Valley and leaders from defense and government.” Business Wire
Valor’s founder and incoming CHAOS board member Antonio Gracias added: “Autonomous threats are compressing decision time on every front. CHAOS is developing the sensing and timing capabilities needed to restore that time advantage for U.S. and allied forces.”
Implications for the Drone Ecosystem
With drones proliferating across commercial, enterprise and defence sectors, radar and sensor systems that detect unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have grown more important. CHAOS’s CDN technology aims to shift the paradigm from legacy large-aircraft detection systems toward agile, distributed networks tailored for drone threats.
For commercial drone operations — such as inspection, delivery or enterprise services — this trend signals that safe and compliant operations increasingly require attention to the “air-space ecosystem” as a whole: not just flying the drone, but detecting and managing unauthorized or adverse drone activity. The investment in CHAOS indicates that the counter-drone market is maturing and may open business opportunities for drone-industry hardware vendors, service providers and software integrators.
As CHAOS scales its manufacturing and development efforts, the company is positioning itself to serve both defense and commercial infrastructure customers. Its technology may support border protection, critical infrastructure monitoring and drone-fleet safety across sectors. The key takeaway is that the “drone moment” is evolving: the next phase involves not only autonomy and mobility, but also counter drone technology and all of its components.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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