Mach Industries, a promising new hardware manufacturer in the defense technology industrial complex, has reached a tipping point. This follows a very substantial defeat from the explosion of their hydrogen gun prototype. Yet the incident occurred due to lack of safety funding. It sent thousands of shrapnel pieces flying, killing a Ukrainian soldier and wounding a teammate. In the aftermath of the explosion, the company decided to “essentially shut down all work” to reassess its operations and safety protocols.
Aside from this odd setback though, Mach Industries is continuing to made great progress in their development of futuristic weaponry. The company is currently working on a new cruise missile and a bomb named “Glide,” designed to be fired from the edge of space. These ambitious projects reflect the company’s commitment to innovation in defense technology, even as it recovers from the recent incident.
Ethan Thornton, the founder of Mach Industries, recognized the struggles that their company went through during this chaotic time. He mentioned that self-funding attempts were blocked by monetary constraints.
“At the time, we were trying to self-fund it, and we didn’t have the money to sort of run these procedures the way they should have been,” – Ethan Thornton.
After the detonation, Mach Industries received a round of investment from Sequoia Capital, their first step on the road back to relevancy. In the summer of 2023, we completed the seed investment. This came on the heels of an $85 million round of venture capital (VC) funding into the company. This funding support is evidence of the high confidence in Mach Industries’ ability to provide next generation defense capabilities.
The company was recently awarded a contract to deploy the system with the U.S. Army. This achievement adds even more to its growing presence in the defense sector. Thornton clarified that working with the feds is key to their approach.
“It’s not necessarily my ability to build these things, but more so our ability to actually work with the federal government to get programs of record built around them,” – Ethan Thornton.
A key part of Mach Industries’ strategy includes constructing thousands of prototypes as part of their iterative development process. This sustainable approach has brought vast investment and interest to projects from both venture capitalists and our federal partners.
Looking forward, Mach Industries hopes to create a network of small, decentralized factories they’ve nicknamed Forge. This is a great initiative and one that is needed to improve production capabilities and more importantly allow for quick prototyping and development cycles.
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