Autonomous ship building startup Saronic Technologies Inc. announced today that it has raised $1.75 billion in new late-stage funding on a $9.25 billion valuation to deliver autonomous platforms at large scale across defense and commercial sectors.

Founded in 2022, Saronic is developing autonomous vessels that are designed to address constraints in traditional shipbuilding and naval operations, where crewed platforms are costly, slow to produce and limited in scalability. The company’s approach combines software-defined systems with vertically integrated manufacturing to produce unmanned ships that can be deployed in distributed maritime environments.

Soronic’s onboard autonomy systems integrate sensors, navigation controls and mission software to enable vessels to function without human crews. The platform allows vessels to be remotely supervised, including support for autonomous navigation, mission planning and execution and fleet coordination across multiple vessels. Communication links allow operators to monitor performance and adjust mission parameters when required.

The system also supports workflows such as persistent surveillance, patrol operations and data collection, with software managing route optimization and task allocation.

Along with building autonomous ships, Saronic is also developing Port Alpha, a next-generation shipyard, alongside the rapid expansion of its existing production facilities in Louisiana and Texas.

“Over the past decades, the U.S. has experienced a steady erosion of its ability to build ships and manufacture critical maritime infrastructure,” said co-founder and Chief Executive Dino Mavrookas. “We are confronting this challenge with a fundamentally new model of American shipbuilding, one that integrates first-principles engineering, advanced manufacturing and software-defined production to deliver autonomous vessels with unprecedented speed, precision and scale.”

Saronic is already finding at least some success, including landing a $392 million production contract with the U.S. Navy. The company has also unveiled its inaugural 180-foot autonomous ship, the Marauder (pictured), which was completed in less than six months and less than eight months after acquiring the facility to build it.

The Series D funding round was led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, with Advent International Corp., Bessemer Venture Partners LP, DFJ Growth, BAM Elevate, 8VC Management, Caffeinated Capital Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Elad Gil and Franklin Resources Inc. also participating.

“Maritime dominance isn’t just about technology — it requires the production capacity to field it at scale,” said Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner Perkins. “Those two things rarely come together. What makes Saronic special is that they’re building both autonomous ships designed from day one to push the boundaries of what’s possible and the manufacturing infrastructure to produce them consistently.”

Image: Saronic