Austin-based defense tech startup Allen Control Systems said April 18 it has raised $12 million in seed funding. The investment was led by Craft Ventures. Forum Ventures and Rally Ventures also got in on the round.
ACS is part of a fast-growing batch of defense tech startups in Austin. It's developing robotic gun systems to attack drones, particularly autonomous military drones that can operate despite radio jamming tactics designed to take down commercial drones.
The company's website says its goal is to "lower the cost per kill of a drone to a few dollars." It also notes that China-based DJI commands the majority of the drone market, potentially putting the United States behind in drone tech development.
"China now has a seemingly insurmountable lead on drone design and manufacturing, with the most optimistic estimates forecasting a five-year lead, but we think it's more like 20 years at this point," the company wrote in an April 17 blog post.
Simoni co-founded ACS earlier this year, along with Chief Technology Officer Luke Allen and Chief Operating Officer Mike Wior. Simoni and Allen first met more than a decade ago when they were U.S. Navy nuclear engineers. In 2017, the duo went on to start a restaurant tech company called Bbot, which was acquired by DoorDash in 2022. That's when they met Wior, who had been CEO and co-founder of restaurant transaction tech company Omnivore, which was acquired by Olo.
ACS' products include the Bullfrog Gun Turret, which uses a Linux computer that ties into existing air defense systems. It detects, identifies and shoots down drones in autonomous and semi-autonomous modes.
"We do this by combining cutting-edge hardware and software that allows us to point an inexpensive gun that already exists in the field more accurately than anyone ever has before," the company wrote in a blog post. "Accurate shooting is the foundation for drone warfare. And it is how we will neutralize the threat of Chinese drone manufacturing dominance."
It also has a virtual reality product to simulate Javelin anti-tank missiles and train students to find targets, fire and reload. And it is developing a mini remote vehicle called the XROV that can monitor underwater systems.
The company is currently hiring electrical engineers and control system engineers.
