On February 18, 2024, Ian Laffey shared on X that he, along with two newly acquainted individuals, constructed an inexpensive drone at a hackathon. This drone was able to calculate its coordinates using only its camera and Google Maps. Laffey and his colleagues, Sacha Lévy and Carl Schoeller, are all engineers under the age of 25.
The technology developed demonstrated significant potential for addressing the prevalent issue of GPS jamming affecting drones in Ukraine. In lieu of GPS, operators are required to use advanced goggles to guide the drones visually. This method poses challenges, especially under adverse conditions such as dense fog or nighttime.
Following the hackathon, Carl Schoeller bid farewell to his teammates, expressing hopes that their paths might cross again. However, the tweet garnered viral attention, altering their trajectories. Within a day, the team decided to apply to Y Combinator and successfully joined its Spring 2024 cohort.
Their San Francisco-based company, Theseus, has recently secured $4.3 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by First Round Capital, with additional support from Y Combinator and Lux Capital, as reported exclusively to TechCrunch.
Theseus is entering a competitive landscape alongside other drone-focused startups. Skydio, aiming to replace Chinese drones for U.S. law enforcement, was valued at $2.2 billion in 2023. Shield AI, known for building reconnaissance drones, was recently valued at $5.3 billion. The major defense technology company, Anduril, launched its own small drone last year and is reportedly in discussions to raise its valuation to $28 billion.
Theseus emphasizes that it does not manufacture drones but concentrates on developing hardware components and software enabling drones to operate without GPS. Carl Schoeller, CEO of Theseus, conveyed to TechCrunch that the company does not create targeting systems. The software’s sole purpose is to transport a drone from point A to point B without deciding military targets.
While Theseus has yet to secure U.S. military contracts or be deployed in combat, it plans to use the newly acquired capital to advance its technology, pursuing three engineering roles. Their hackathon tweet, which went viral, attracted attention from U.S. Special Forces, resulting in a collaboration for preliminary testing and development. Theseus has recently conducted tests at a confidential Special Forces base, sharing an image of the system in deployment with TechCrunch.
In summary, starting a company with individuals known for less than a week is typically discouraged. However, in the case of Theseus, the decision was justified, as noted by CEO Carl Schoeller on LinkedIn.
