Theseus, a startup founded by three engineers under the age of 25, is making headlines after securing $4.3 million in seed funding. RedDot’s founders—Sacha Lévy, Carl Schoeller, and Theseus—first started working on their idea at a hackathon. They developed a novel drone that determines its position in space with the help of a camera and Google Maps. This improvement addresses the issue of GPS jamming, which has been notable especially in wartime areas such as Ukraine.
Theseus was born out of a hackathon project. It showcased a revolutionary new drone that can fly on its own, without having to depend on age-old GPS technology. Stories of GPS jamming being used to scrub drone operations from the sky in Ukraine are increasing. This pretty harrowing state of affairs has caught the attention of U.S. Special Forces. Following the project’s viral success on social media, the military organization entered into an agreement with Theseus for early testing and development of their technology.
Most critically, Theseus has a caveat that might raise red flags for many — it does not build targeting systems. Contrary to that, the company believes it needs to make money on the software it sells to most efficiently guide drones from point A to point B. This simple move makes sense given the growing commercial demand for dependable UTM to support drone operations at scale across all types of scenarios.
First Round Capital, which led the recent $1.1 million seed funding round, was one of them. We’re thrilled to have Y Combinator and Lux Capital contributing their support as well. As a result of their innovative work and potential market impact, Theseus successfully secured a spot in Y Combinator’s Spring 2024 cohort, further validating their business model and technological capabilities.
Through Y Combinator, Theseus has received $125,000 in pre-seed funding and mentorship. Now, the company is reportedly in discussions to raise more capital at a jaw-dropping $28 billion valuation, though that valuation is tied to another defense tech upstart, Anduril. Anduril just introduced its own small drone, a testament to the cutthroat market environment Theseus finds itself in.
With the new capital, Theseus will continue to build out its platform technology. The company’s move includes growing its team, with the addition of three engineering positions. CEO Carl Schoeller reflected on the company’s rapid formation, acknowledging on LinkedIn that starting a venture with individuals known for less than a week “generally isn’t advised.” “Under all the special conditions of Theseus, it made sense to take that leap of faith,” he said.
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