Darkhive Inc. Closes $4M Seed Round to Scale Development of Low-cost Autonomous Drones for Defense and Public Safety

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Darkhive Inc. announced the closing of a $4M Seed round led by Crosslink Capital and joined by MVP Ventures, Capital Factory, and existing investor Stellar Ventures. This round of financing will enable Darkhive to accelerate production of both hardware and software product lines in support of high-profile Department of Defense initiatives. In the past year, Darkhive has been awarded contracts totaling nearly $14M, but collaboration with key strategic investors provides a critical component to the future success of the company.

"We have some hard timelines to hit in 2024 and beyond in order for our products to provide real value at scale to the communities we support," said Darkhive CEO John Goodson, "We're excited to be teamed up with Crosslink and our other partners that joined the round to hit those milestones and deliver for our customers."

Matt Bigge, Partner at Crosslink Capital and Darkhive Board Member, commented "Darkhive represents the future of uncrewed systems. Their open hardware and software architecture enables the first truly scalable, interoperable and cost appropriate approach to US-made drones. Crosslink is excited to work with the Darkhive team to facilitate this strategic architectural approach at a critical time for US National Security."

About Darkhive:

Founded in 2021, Darkhive has placed an emphasis on developing affordable, US-manufactured uncrewed systems with open hardware and software interfaces to provide life-saving situational awareness at home and abroad. Darkhive has previously been awarded a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research IDIQ with AFWERX Autonomy Prime, multiple Phase II SBIR/STTR awards with AFWERX and the Air Force Research Lab, as well as OTA contracts with the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense Research and Engineering Innovation and Modernization and the Defense Innovation Unit National Security Innovation Capital. 

About Crosslink Capital:

Crosslink is a leading early-stage venture capital firm based in the Bay Area with over $4B in AUM. Crosslink partners with founders that are market disrupters and category creators, typically at the Seed-Series A stage, across highly dynamic enterprise and consumer technology sectors. 

The firm aims to partner with exceptional founders and assist them in building successful companies by providing capital, expertise, and a strong network of connections. Over its history, Crosslink has had the opportunity to partner with defining companies such as Bleacher Report (acquired by TWX), BuildingConnected (acquired by ADSK), Chime, Coupa (COUP), Omniture (acquired by ADBE), Personal Capital (acquired by Empower Retirement), Postmates (acquired by UBER), ServiceMax (acquired by GE), Vungle (acquired by Blackstone), Verodin (acquired by FEYE) and Weave (IPONYSE: WEAV).

SOURCE Darkhive