Today, we are announcing that our portfolio company Grid Aero has closed a $20M Series A led by Bison Ventures and Geodesic Capital, with participation from Commonweal. We first invested in Grid Aero’s seed round and are proud to continue supporting the team as they scale.
The funding arrives at a critical moment for American national security. If the U.S. had to defend the Pacific tomorrow, our primary vulnerability wouldn't be our missiles or our planes; it would be our gas and our food.
For decades, the U.S. has optimized for "exquisite" platforms: billion-dollar jets and massive cargo ships that require pristine runways and safe ports. In a modern, contested conflict, these platforms are high-value targets. This challenge is what the Department of War calls "contested logistics." It is one of America’s biggest priorities to solve in defense.
Grid Aero is building the Lifter Lite, an autonomous aircraft designed specifically for the Pacific. It is built to be "attritable": cheap enough to lose, but capable enough to carry serious tonnage to places traditional cargo planes can’t reach.
Why we invested:
- Grid Aero has gone from founding to fielding a prototype in just over twelve months. That velocity is going to win them the market.
- The status quo relies on $200M aircraft to deliver $10k worth of supplies. Grid Aero flips the script, providing a low-cost, scalable lift that can be deployed in numbers that overwhelm an adversary’s targeting logic.
- While the military is a big potential customer, Grid is building a true dual-use product. From disaster relief to commercial delivery in infrastructure-poor regions, the Lifter Lite could become a foundational tool in supply chains.
We are glad to be part of the team.
Read more about Grid’s announcement here.
.png)
