Clarksburg-based Forterra, a rapidly growing defense-technology company specializing in autonomous ground systems, has officially reached “unicorn” status. Bloomberg reports that the company has raised $238 million in a new Series C round, pushing its valuation past $1 billion.
Forterra, which operates out of one of Montgomery County’s northernmost communities, says the funding will accelerate its work on autonomous vehicle technologies designed for modern military operations.
In a statement released Wednesday, the company emphasized the growing need for resilient logistics and autonomous systems as adversaries increasingly rely on low-cost, unmanned platforms. Forterra describes its mission as building “a new class of cognitive mission systems—autonomous, interoperable, and intelligent platforms that act as force multipliers,” capable of moving, sensing, and fighting without rest.
The company says the Series C investment will expand production of Forterra’s edge-compute and autonomy platforms, scale its command-and-control offerings, support new office openings, and enable rapid deployment of its systems to warfighters. Forterra’s technology is already being used in multiple Department of Defense programs, positioning the company as one of the most significant emerging players in the military autonomy space.
Among its recent milestones, Forterra highlights several major defense contracts and accomplishments: the DoD’s first ground autonomy Program of Record, ROGUE Fires, which serves as the nation’s only mobile, land-based autonomous missile launcher; a $114 million U.S. Army contract to field autonomous breaching systems; continued work with the Army’s UxS program for unmanned tactical platforms; advancement to Phase II of the Army’s GEARS program for heavy logistics automation; and partnerships with major defense organizations including Raytheon (RTX), BAE, Volvo Defense, and CHAOS Industries.
Forterra says demand for intelligent, modular, interoperable systems is reshaping defense procurement across all domains. With its newly bolstered financial backing, the company plans to scale deployment of its technologies globally while remaining focused on what it calls a singular mission: building low-cost autonomous systems that strengthen the West’s ability to deter future conflicts.
The funding includes both equity and debt and was led by Moore Strategic Ventures, with major participation from Salesforce Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Balyasny Asset Management, 645 Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management, 9Yards Capital, RTX Ventures, NightDragon, and existing backers such as XYZ Venture Capital, Hedosophia, Enlightenment Capital, and Crescent Cove.
