Hadrian raises $1.37bn at a near-$8bn defence valuation

This article was published on August 6, 2026 Hadrian, which builds AI-run factories for the US military, has raised $1.37bn at a valuation just shy of $8bn. In seven months its price has climbed almost fivefold, and the backers are no longer only defence specialists. The defence-tech boom has a new marker. Hadrian builds automated factories for the Pentagon and its contractors. Founded in 2021, it has announced a $1.37bn Series D that values it at $7.87bn. In January the same company was worth $1.6bn. Bloomberg first flagged the talks in June, at a mooted $7.5bn, and reported the close. What is striking is who wrote the cheques. JPMorgan’s Strategic Investment Group anchored the round, alongside Baillie Gifford, T. Rowe Price accounts, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and funds run by Apollo. These are mainstream institutions, not the niche defence funds that seeded the sector. Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz and 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, also joined. Hadrian’s pitch is that manufacturing is a software problem. It runs highly automated plants under a “factories-as-a-service” model. A defence prime can buy production capacity without building its own plan