A local autonomy startup in stealth mode closed a $6 million funding round backed by Andreessen Horowitz, a major Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
Swan, a company that is developing autonomous solutions for defense, was founded by Dima Kislovskiy, Aurora Innovation's former VP of trucking. The $6 million seed round was led by Andreessen Horowitz after being initiated by local venture capital firm Reinforced Ventures. Euan Guttridge, who founded Reinforced Ventures and has a background in autonomy, said that the firm invested in Swan because it "meets our thesis perfectly, which is autonomous systems and robotics."
"I've been working in the industry for over 20 odd years and I've come to know certain individuals very well over those years," Guttridge said. "I've known [Kislovskiy] for eight years and he is one of the most capable individuals and now founders that I've come to know. He understands the market and the technology exceptionally well."
Guttridge called Andreessen Horowitz's involvement in the round "incredibly significant" for the Pittsburgh region, noting that it shows continued outside interest in the region's autonomy cluster, which has seen several companies make cuts in the post-pandemic landscape.
"It's another validation that Andreessen Horowitz typically invests at a later stage but they're effectively the second check in to Swan," Guttridge said. "Reinforced Ventures was the first check, and to have Andreessen sweep in and take a $6 million round as a second check in it's just incredibly validating for the region."
The defense industry has shown growing interest in the region's autonomy cluster. In recent years, venture capital arms of the military have awarded tens of millions of dollars to companies. A significant amount of interest is in off-road autonomy, allowing vehicles and drones to function independently in GPS denied environments.
"When in the '60s and '70s there were effectively chip wars and the U.S. was struggling to capture its leadership position through technology in military systems through the development of microchips," Guttridge said. "We re-established a good position globally because of our technology and this is another cycle where you really have to have robust autonomous systems that can navigate in GPS denied environments to sustain an edge. This is what Swan is doing at scale."
Representatives of Swan did not respond to request to comment in time for publication.
