What is Castelion?
Affordable hypersonic strike systems built through rapid iteration and scaled manufacturing.
- Category
- Hypersonic strike systems
- Headquarters
- Torrance, CA
- Founded
- 2022
- Employees
- Private; roughly 201-500 reported
- Total funding
- About $504M reported
- Valuation
- $2.8B reported
What is Castelion?
Affordable hypersonic strike systems built through rapid iteration and scaled manufacturing.
Castelion develops hypersonic and advanced strike weapons for the U.S. and allies, with public focus on the Blackbeard Ground Launch system. The company was founded by former SpaceX engineers and emphasizes rapid test cadence, vertical integration, and manufacturing capacity. Castelion closed a $350M Series B in late 2025 to mass-produce Blackbeard and fund Project Ranger manufacturing. Private-market sources report about $504M raised and a $2.8B valuation; June 2026 reports described a targeted higher valuation but not a closed round.
As of June 2026, the important sales context is that Castelion is still in a build-and-scale phase rather than a mature public operating company. Revenue, customer count, and exact pricing are not fully public unless noted, so the durable facts are its domain, leadership, disclosed financings, offices, and public product direction.
What does Castelion offer?
Castelion offers the products and capabilities listed below.
- Blackbeard Ground Launch· Core product
- Hypersonic strike systems· Core product
- Project Ranger manufacturing· Core product
- Rapid flight testing· Capability
- Scaled munitions production· Capability
- Defense integration· Use case
How does Castelion make money?
Castelion makes money through enterprise, government, or commercial contracts tied to hypersonic strike systems.
Castelion sells defense systems through government contracts, prototypes, integration programs, and eventual production orders. Pricing is not public and depends on missile configuration, propulsion, payload, guidance, test cadence, and production volume.
For sellers, the budget center is usually tied to hypersonic strike systems, deployment reliability, security, engineering velocity, and customer operations. Strong fits include infrastructure, hiring, test and simulation, manufacturing, data, compliance, field operations, and integration tooling where the product can reduce schedule risk or expand production capacity.
Who leads Castelion?
Castelion is led by the founders and operating executives below.
- Bryon HargisCo-founder & CEOFounder, since 2022Former SpaceX national-security executive leading Castelion.
- Sean PittCo-founderFounder, since 2022Former SpaceX engineer listed in company coverage.
- Manufacturing and test leadersOperations leadershipScaling functionDrive flight-test cadence and factory build-out.
How do you contact Castelion's leadership?
Castelion publishes company contact routes, but verified personal executive emails were not found in reviewed public sources. Use the official contact route below or verified first-party channels instead of guessing personal addresses.
Official contact form; personal executive email format not verifiedHow much funding has Castelion raised?
Castelion has About $504M reported; latest valuation/status signal: $2.8B reported.
2023: Seed / early venture - valuation not disclosed; Early financing to start hypersonic strike development. Early 2025: Series A / debt and equity - valuation not disclosed; About $100M, including equity led by Lightspeed and debt for manufacturing, reported by WSJ coverage. Dec 2025: Series B - $2.8B reported valuation; $350M led by Altimeter Capital and Lightspeed Ventures with a16z, General Catalyst, First In, Space VC, Cantos, BlueYard, Avenir, Champion Hill, Interlagos, and others.
The latest valuation/status signal is $2.8B reported. Where valuations or revenue are not company-disclosed, this profile labels them as reported signals rather than verified company metrics; Castelion remains private as of June 2026.
How did Castelion get here?
Castelion's milestones show the path from founding to its current June 2026 scale.
- 2022FoundedFormer SpaceX team starts Castelion.
- 2025$100M financingCompany raises growth capital for hypersonic systems and manufacturing.
- 2025Blackbeard testingCompany reports more than 20 developmental test flights.
- Dec 2025$350M Series BCastelion funds mass production and Project Ranger.
- 2026Manufacturing pushNew Mexico factory plan targets scaled Blackbeard production.
Who are Castelion's competitors?
Castelion competes with the following companies and incumbents.
- AndurilDefense technology company producing autonomous weapons and munitions.
- Mach IndustriesDefense startup building low-cost strike UAVs and munitions.
- HermeusHypersonic aircraft and propulsion developer.
- Lockheed MartinPrime defense contractor with hypersonic programs.
- RTXPrime contractor with missiles and defense systems.
Castelion — frequently asked questions
