A new hypersonic missile startup, dubbed Castelion and founded by three former SpaceX executives, has now raised $1 billion in private investment capital.

The Series C financing announced Aug. 19 includes $800 million in equity and a $250 million committed revolving credit facility. The equity round was co-led by JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz and funds managed by Carlyle. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lavrock Ventures, Altimeter, General Catalyst and Interlagos also participated, along with new investor T. Rowe Price Associates. Castelion said the financing values the four-year-old startup at $13 billion.

The funding will be used to expand production of Blackbeard, Castelion’s hypersonic strike missile, at its manufacturing complex in Sandoval County, New Mexico, while accelerating work on a longer-range precision strike weapon and defensive systems for air and missile defense.

The company, founded in 2022, had already raised $350 million in 2025. It already has $500 million in War Department contracts, and hopes to launch its first Blackbeard missile in 2027. Its appeal to the Pentagon is its low cost, about $400k per missile versus the many millions charged by competitors. It also appears Castelion is offering high production rates — based on its founders’ past experience at SpaceX — something the older established companies have not been able to achieve.

These deals also indicate the changing approach to contracting by the Pentagon under Trump. For decades it refused to consider deals with new companies, always favoring the older established big space contractors like Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, etc., a bias that produced little for a lot of money This hidebound approach now appears to be ending, and the benefits appear extensive and ground-shaking, so much so that the investor community is willing to commit a lot of investment capital in such startups.