Kirkland-based radar company Echodyne has raised $135 million.
Bill Gates and Baillie Gifford led the funding, announced Monday. Echodyne co-founder and CEO Eben Frankenberg said the company will use the money to grow its sales and marketing efforts as well as its manufacturing.
"We sell a lot of systems to government entities, both defense as well as national security," Frankenberg said. "Government contracts tend to be a little slow-moving, but over the last few years we've built up tremendous interest in the defense and national security space, both here in the U.S. as well as now internationally. We're starting to see that uptake."
Frankenberg said Echodyne has about 130 total employees, of which about 115 are based in the Seattle area. He added that the company doesn't have a specific target for how many employees it plans to have a year from now. Echodyne isn't planning to add office space, as Frankenberg said its current space in Kirkland can accommodate the company's immediate growth.
Echodyne, founded in 2014, makes radars used for surveillance, border security, and unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, among other uses. Frankenberg said the gold standard in the field has been electronically scanned array radars, and Echodyne is focused on bringing a less-expensive version of the technology to the market.
The company raised $20 million in 2019. Echodyne already has four products on the market, Frankenberg said.
In addition to Gates and Baillie Gifford, Northrop Grumman Corp., NEA, Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital and Vanedge Capital all participated in the round.
Going forward, Frankenberg said Echodyne is looking to add hardware products and software features. He added that if demand comes in as expected, Echodyne will also look to expand its manufacturing lines.
"It doesn't mean factories for us. We're very efficient in our manufacturing space," Frankenberg said. "But it does mean some additional headcount."
