Shield AI logo

Shield AI

Challenger

Defense AI company building autonomous drones and AI pilots. $12.7B valuation after $2B Series G (2026). ~$300M 2025 rev. Founded 2015, San Diego. Private.

Best for: Defense & Autonomous Systems
68
AI Score
Grade B↑ Trending
AI Visibility Score (Beta)
Government, Defense & NonprofitDefense & Autonomous SystemsWebsiteUpdated April 2026

Brand Intelligence Graph

Powered byNVIDIA
Capabilities
Defense & Autonomous Systems

Company Overview

About Shield AI

Shield AI is an American aerospace and defense technology company founded in 2015 by former Navy SEAL Brandon Tseng, his brother Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter. Headquartered in San Diego, California, Shield AI develops AI-powered autonomous systems for military and defense applications. Its core products include the Hivemind autonomy software platform, the V-BAT vertical take-off and landing drone, and the X-BAT — the world's first AI-piloted VTOL fighter jet with a 2,000 nautical mile range.

Business Model & Competitive Advantage

Shield AI's business model centers on its Hivemind software platform, which enables aircraft and drones to execute autonomous missions in GPS-denied and communications-degraded environments without remote pilots. Hivemind accounted for approximately 30% of revenue in 2025, with a target of 50% software revenue by 2028. The company competes in the rapidly growing defense autonomy market alongside Anduril, Skydio, and traditional defense primes.

Competitive Landscape 2025–2026

In March 2026, Shield AI raised $2 billion in Series G funding led by Advent and JPMorgan, with Blackstone contributing $500M in preferred shares, valuing the company at $12.7 billion. Revenue reached approximately $300M in 2025, with projections exceeding $540M for 2026 (80%+ growth). Gary Steele was appointed as the new CEO in late 2025, signaling potential IPO readiness.

Founded
2015
Curated content • Fact-checked and verified

Recent Activity

View all →
8-K
8-K — 8-K

Material Event filed 2026-08-19

blog_post
How V-BAT Earns Operational Trust

Two V-BATs sat on the deck aboard the Italian Coast Guard patrol vessel Dattilo, ready for a maritime surveillance mission run by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. Long before the aircraft reached Dattilo, Shield AI and Global Sat Tech, the operator, began working with the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) to secure […]

blog_post
America’s Most Successful Veterans
blog_post
Autonomy at the Speed of the Mission

This blog is the first in a series exploring the technologies and principles shaping the future of AI and autonomy. In a contested environment, yesterday’s software is rarely enough for tomorrow’s mission. Autonomy has to be adaptable by the operator as the mission changes. Historically, changing how an autonomous system behaves has meant changing its […]

blog_post
The Life of AVEN ® — How a 1990s F-16 Thrust-Vectoring Nozzle Became the Key to X-BAT’s Vertical Takeoff

Every piece of disruptive technology in history has a life story. For X-BAT, that story begins nearly forty years before its conception with the development of a unique propulsion technology. AVEN®, or the Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle, is the thrust-vectoring engine nozzle that lets Shield AI’s X-BAT launch and land vertically without a runway. It […]

blog_post
Shield AI and Taiwan’s NCSIST complete autonomous swarm exercise and expand sovereign AI and Autonomy efforts

TAIPEI (August 6th 2026) — Shield AI and Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) today announced the successful field demonstration of a coordinated autonomous search mission with three NCSIST Mighty Hornet III unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), resulting in a renewed partnership to continue development with Hivemind more broadly across the Institute. In less than three months, NCSIST engineers, supported by Shield AI, indigenously developed AI pilots […]

blog_post
Battlefield To Boardroom: The Veteran Founders Riding Defense Tech’s $32 Billion Boom
blog_post
Combining Shield AI! Thunder Tiger unmanned surface vessel autonomously drives away manned vessels during exercise in Dapeng Bay.
blog_post
Shield AI and Thunder Tiger complete Hivemind’s first multi-asset autonomous maritime teaming demonstration in Taiwan

TAIPEI (July 29, 2026) — Shield AI and Thunder Tiger Corp. today announced the successful completion of Hivemind’s first multi-asset autonomous teaming demonstration on water, validating Shield AI’s Hivemind AI pilot aboard Thunder Tiger SeaShark unmanned surface vessels (USVs) in a coordinated mission. During the demonstration in Pingtung, Taiwan, Thunder Tiger’s SeaShark 600 and SeaShark […]

blog_post
Altus Drones on Shield AI’s V-BAT
8-K
8-K — 8-K

Material Event filed 2026-07-24

blog_post
Honeywell Aerospace, Shield AI collaborate to advance development of autonomous aircraft

Honeywell Aerospace is building trusted autonomy for both commercial and defense platforms leveraging Shield AI software development kit FARNBOROUGH, United Kingdom (July 22, 2026) — Honeywell Aerospace (Nasdaq: HONA) and Shield AI, a leader in AI-powered mission autonomy, today announced a Memorandum of Understanding under which Honeywell Aerospace will develop a trusted autonomy software stack on Shield AI’s Hivemind Software […]

Key Differentiators

Strong Challenger

Shield AI is an established challenger with significant market presence and competitive offerings in Government Tech.

Frequently Asked Questions

Estimated Visibility Trend (Beta)

Simulated 8-week rolling score

68
↑ Trending

Based on estimated brand signals. Historical tracking coming soon.

Similar Brands

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud logo

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud

Nonprofit Tech
B2bSaasCrmEnterprise

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud is a purpose-built CRM and fundraising platform from Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) designed specifically for nonprofit organizations — providing donor management, grant tracking, f

Laserfiche logo

Laserfiche

GovTech
SaasB2bPlatformTechnologyEnterpriseGlobalAutomation

Laserfiche is a Long Beach, California-based enterprise content management (ECM) and process automation company founded in 1987. The company serves over 80,000 organizations worldwide, with particular

Community Brands logo

Community Brands

Nonprofit, Association & Government Software
SaasB2bPlatformEnterpriseTechnologyServicesAnalytics

Community Brands is a private equity-backed software company headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, that operates a portfolio of over 13 software products serving associations, nonprofits, and government a

Accela logo

Accela

GovTech
SaasB2bPlatformTechnologyEnterpriseUs OnlyAutomation

Accela is a San Ramon, California-based government software company founded in 1999 and owned by Vista Equity Partners. The company provides cloud-based permitting, licensing, code enforcement, and in

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT logo

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Nonprofit Tech
B2bSaasPublic

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is a cloud-based nonprofit fundraising and constituent relationship management platform developed by Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) — a Charleston, South Carolina-based social im

OpenGov logo

OpenGov

GovTech
SaasB2bPlatformTechnologyEnterpriseUs OnlyAnalytics

OpenGov is a San Francisco-based government cloud software company founded in 2012 that has raised over $250M in funding. The company provides an integrated suite of financial management, budgeting, p

For Shield AI

Claim This Profile

Are you from Shield AI? Claim your profile to see full AI mention excerpts, get weekly visibility change alerts, and optimize how AI systems describe your brand.

Claim Shield AI Profile →
For competitors & analysts

Track AI Visibility in Real Time

Monitor how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude mention Shield AI vs competitors. Get alerts when AI recommendations shift.

Start Free Tracking →