A Massachusetts defense technology company has raised $38 million in financial backing to develop an undersea stealth logistics fleet that uses ultra-large Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to haul containerized payloads across vast distances.
Boston-based Corridian said the funding will support continued development of the company’s flagship AUV platform, buildout of its research and development facility, and active hiring for its rapidly expanding undersea engineering team.
The “seed round” was led by Point72 Ventures, with participation from Balerion Space Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, DCVC, Marlinspike, and a syndicate of additional defense and deep-tech investors.
Corridian’s platform is capable of traveling thousands of nautical miles without a crew, stealthily, and with high survivability, the firm said. That capability is needed in an age when inexpensive drones and long-range missiles have made ships and aircraft easier to find and costlier to defend, leaving the military with few survivable ways to move payloads and materiel across contested waters.
But the U.S. Navy’s undersea payload capacity is limited to existing AUV and submarine platforms, which were not designed to carry large, numerous, or dense payloads. As a result, the United States and allied nations must close a widening gap in their ability to deliver mission-critical capabilities across contested regions, such as those in the Western Pacific.
“America’s dependence on the surface and air domains to move mass at scale is an acute vulnerability,” said Mike Guay, co-founder and CEO of Corridian. “The United States and its allies are buying drones, sensors, effects, and supplies that need a way to reach the fight, even when operating in heavily contested and denied environments. That’s stealth logistics: carrying that cargo underwater, out of sight, autonomously, thousands of nautical miles at a time. Corridian adds the undersea capacity commanders need, working alongside the submarines that operate at the tip of the spear today.”
