Shield AI
Shield AI is a Drones & UAS Autonomy company founded in 2015 and based in San Diego, United States. It has raised $1.9B in total funding, most recently a Series G in 2026 at a $12.7B valuation.
Shield AI builds Hivemind, an AI pilot that lets drones and crewed aircraft fly, navigate, and make tactical decisions on their own when GPS and communications links are jammed or denied. Founded in 2015 by Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter, the company sells autonomy as software rather than a platform, deploying Hivemind on its own V-BAT vertical-takeoff UAS as well as on third-party drones and fighter jets. Hivemind has flown V-BAT in combat in Ukraine and been validated on an F-16 via the X-62A test jet, and in June 2026 the U.S. Air Force awarded Shield AI a production contract to provide Hivemind mission autonomy for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, flying on Anduril's YFQ-44A. Shield AI has raised roughly $2.49B total, most recently a Series G at a $12.7B valuation, announced alongside its acquisition of simulation specialist Aechelon Technology.
It is the clearest example of autonomy sold as software: an AI pilot that ports across aircraft and keeps flying when GPS and comms are denied, the hardest case for autonomous flight.
shield.ai ↗·Drones & UAS Autonomy·
United States·private 
