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Hermeus

Hypersonic aircraft startup developing Mach 5 commercial and defense uncrewed aerial vehicles
Defense & Space 📍 Atlanta, GA Founded 2018
Current Valuation
$1.0B
as of 2024-Q4
UNICORN

IPO Outlookprivate

Is Hermeus going public?
No. Hermeus has no imminent IPO plans on record. It is still private.
What is Hermeus' valuation in 2026?
Hermeus is valued at $1.0B as of 2024-Q4, set by its Series C ($100M, Sep 2024). That is the last confirmed mark, not a live price — private shares do not trade continuously.
Has Hermeus filed an S-1?
No public S-1 is on file for Hermeus.
Who are Hermeus' investors?
Hermeus' investors include AE Industrial Partners, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Sam Altman, RTX Ventures, Steve Lord.
Answers are derived from the roster record shown on this page — filing status, last round and confirmed marks. Where the record is silent, the answer says so rather than guessing.
Hermeus is developing reusable Mach 5 hypersonic aircraft, starting with the uncrewed Quarterhorse testbed (first flight 2025) and the Darkhorse reconnaissance UAV. Long-term goal is the Halcyon passenger jet (NY-London in 90 minutes). Multiple US Air Force contracts including a $60M Quarterhorse contract. Founded by SpaceX, Generation Orbit, and Blue Origin alumni.

Company Profile

CEO
AJ Piplica
Founded
2018
HQ
Atlanta, GA
Employees
~150
Total Raised
$350M
Growth
Pre-revenue (DoD contract revenue ramping)
Last Round
Series C — $100M (Sep 2024) · Lead: AE Industrial Partners
IPO Status
no imminent plans

Fundraising Status

Series C · $100M · 1y 11mo ago
no imminent plansTotal raised $350M

Secondary Market

Implied price / share
$15
Last round price / share
$23.35
vs last round
-35.8%
Open interest
3
Last round price vs secondary price
Last round vs current secondary price per share$23.35Last round$15.00Current
Secondary price return by period
Secondary market period returns3-month+49.7%6-month+15.4%1-year+40.3%All-time-10.2%
Implied per-share price from private secondary transactions, as of Jun 2026. This is a point estimate, not a quote — the feed carries no bid, ask or spread, and a secondary print is evidence of what someone paid on that date rather than a live market. Compare across every tracked name →

Latest Funding Round

RoundAmountDateLead InvestorPost-Money
Series C$100MSep 2024AE Industrial Partners

Vertical Intelligence — Defense / Aerospace

Federal awards
4
prime contracts, last 36 months
Obligated
$23.2M
top: Department of Defense
Largest award
$20.16M
Department of Defense
Latest award
2025-12-29
Largest award: VC-25B HYPERSONIC SBIR PHASE 2 (FA864121C0002)
Name-verified against recipient "HERMEUS CORP" on USASpending.gov as of 2026-08-19. Prime awards only — subcontracts and classified work are not visible in the public registry. Verify on USASpending.gov ↗

Talent Signal

Hiring trend
Hiring downtrend
6% of roles posted in last 30d
Open roles
84
via lever
Product-build share
76%
engineering, research, product, design
Trajectory
tightening
heavy product build — 76% of open roles are product-building functions (engineering/research/product) — 33 of 84 open roles are hardware.
Open roles trending down; no tracked executive churn.
Open roles by month
Open roles by month84Aug '26
Open roles by function
Open roles by functionHardware33Engineering30Other13Ops & People4Finance & Strategy2Legal & Policy1Design1
product-building   go-to-market / G&A
Aerodynamics EngineerAvionics Electrical EngineerAvionics Electrical EngineerAvionics Manufacturing EngineerAvionics Shop ManagerAvionics Systems Engineer – Flight Safety Systems (FTS / AFSS)
Counted from Hermeus's live job board as of 2026-08-17; role functions classified from posting titles. Open-role counts are an activity signal, not headcount. Refreshed monthly.

Founders & Key People

AJ PiplicaGlenn CaseMike SmaydaSkyler Shuford

Investors

AE Industrial Partners · Founders Fund · Khosla Ventures · Sam Altman · RTX Ventures · Steve Lord

Products

  • Quarterhorse (uncrewed Mach 5 testbed)
  • Darkhorse (uncrewed reconnaissance UAV)
  • Halcyon (passenger Mach 5 jet)

Competitors

Boom Supersonic · Stratolaunch · Lockheed Martin Skunk Works · Reaction Engines
DefenseHypersonicsAerospaceDoD
Private-company numbers are not real-time. Reflects publicly disclosed valuations from press releases, news reports, and tender offers as of 2024-Q4. Refreshed quarterly.