Since expanding in February with a Long Beach manufacturing facility, True Anomaly Inc. has crossed over the $1 billion investment threshold last week with a $650 million series D funding round.
The largest such round so far for the aerospace defense startup coincides with its selection as one of 12 aerospace contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense’s $3.2 billion Golden Dome project. Led by Venice-based Riot Ventures and Palo Alto-based Eclipse, the new capital will support the development of True Anomaly’s portfolio, including autonomous spacecrafts and space interceptors. The company has reached a $2.2 billion valuation since its inception in Denver in 2022.
True Anomaly Founder and Chief Executive Even Rogers told the Business Journal that “a substantial amount” from the proceeds of this round will pour into its Long Beach facility, which serves as its manufacturing hub. While unable to disclose the specific amount, he said the number is likely to be “several hundred million.” He added that the company will hire about 200 people in the next 12 months and teased a new product rollout in its Long Beach facility.
“There’s ample space and production space in Long Beach, and there’s significant talent there,” Rogers said.
Will Coffield, partner at Riot Ventures, added in a statement that the investment will arm True Anomaly “with the means to deliver for the warfighter.”
“Space is a warfighting domain, and to sustain deterrence the U.S. needs companies that can build, deploy and scale in the face of a rapidly evolving threat landscape,” he said. “True Anomaly is that company.”
A fast growth
Southern California’s aerospace boom continued to gain pace.
The Golden Dome project, which creates multi-layer shields against aerial strikes, will receive part of President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027. Beyond True Anomaly, Torrance-based GITAI USA Inc. and Costa Mesa-based Anduril Industries Inc. are also selected as contractors.
Increased interest in automation also underpins the new investment. True Anomaly shared that it would continue to focus on automation, aiming to achieve a “right balance of autonomy and authority and risk” for the spacecraft to operate in a timely fashion without human interference in challenging environments, such as contested electromagnetic fields.
“We just want to applaud the way that the Department of War is clearing contemporary space superiority systems. It’s allowing entrants like True Anomaly to gain a foothold and an opening to demonstrate what we’re really capable of,” Rogers said. “There are also other space superiority programs that are being acquired in an open way, and that’s really what makes these levels of investment possible.”
