Automated-manufacturing start-up Hadrian has raised $260 million in Series C financing led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Lux Capital, lifting its total funding to nearly $500 million since it was founded in 2020. The Hawthorne, California-based company said the proceeds will bankroll a 270,000-square-foot factory in Mesa, Arizona—scheduled to open by Christmas 2025 with four times the machining capacity of its current plant—and expand its 500,000-square-foot headquarters and R&D center in Torrance, California. Hadrian, which supplies precision metal parts to aerospace and defense customers, plans to add welding, casting and additive manufacturing lines and to launch dedicated ‘factory-as-a-service’ sites for large clients. Chief Executive Officer Chris Power said demand from the U.S. Navy and other branches is accelerating, framing domestic re-industrialization as a matter of national security. In a separate deal underscoring investor interest in defense production, Firestorm Labs secured $47 million in Series A funding to scale its airliftable ‘xCell’ micro-factories used to produce 3D-printed drones for the U.S. Department of Defense. The two transactions highlight a broader push by venture capital firms to modernize U.S. defense manufacturing amid concerns over supply-chain resilience and competition with China.