22-year-old founder leads Mach Industries to $3.7 billion valuation after $600 million raise

Mach Industries, founded in 2023 by 19-year-old Ethan Thornton, announced a $600 million Series C extension that lifted its valuation to $3.7 billion, up from $1.8 billion just three months prior. The company, which creates autonomous defense systems, now operates six weapons programs from a 115,000-square-foot campus in Huntington Beach, California. Recent milestones include a contract with the Army Applications Laboratory to build a vertical-takeoff precision cruise missile.

Backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Infinite Capital and Bedrock Capital, Mach is shifting from prototyping to full-scale production, aiming to design and manufacture its technologies concurrently. Thornton’s early fascination with defense, nurtured in a Texas military family and honed at MIT before he left with a Thiel Fellowship, drives his rapid-growth strategy. He emphasizes hiring experts to fill knowledge gaps and encourages young innovators to embrace failure and iteration.