🚨🤯 You thought $ONDS acquisition of World View was impressive? Wait till you read this ⬇️
First and foremost, massive credit to @theshofiles - brilliant detective work! 👏
Now, let’s break it down…
In May 2025, World View managed to raise a staggering $2.57 BILLION in a single private placement🤯
That’s $2.57 billion in cash - not their assumed valuation.
Prior to that, their previous rounds were just $5–25M. Then, suddenly, growth equity investors poured in at massive scale.
Despite the implied equity value staying flat at ~$150–200M (serious dilution), that cash gave them insane runway.
They poured it into R&D, Stratollite balloon upgrades, heavy-payload tech, record-breaking endurance flights, and operational scale-up.
The result? By early 2026, World View had completed 140+ stratospheric missions, delivering real-world ISR for governments and militaries. 🚀
Key investors behind the $2.57 billion round:
• Sameer Gandhi (Accel) - General Partner at Accel and lead investor rep on World View’s board. Accel has backed them since the $15 million Series B.
• Jon Piatt (SNC) - EVP for ISR, Aviation & Security at Sierra Nevada Corporation (now on the board representing SNC).
• Lyndon Lea - Founder & Managing Partner of Lion Capital (joined the board after his Leo Holdings SPAC attempt in 2023).
• Charlie Precourt - Retired NASA Space Shuttle commander and former VP/GM of Northrop Grumman’s $1.2 billion Propulsion Systems Division; now chairs World View’s Technical Oversight Committee.
But the most important investor⁉️
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) - a $1.9 billion American aerospace & defense prime.
SNC first partnered with World View in 2022 for stratospheric balloon platforms in comms & surveillance.
They then led the ~$70M Series D in 2024, committed to ~$5M+/yr in flight purchases, and jumped into the massive $2.57 billion round the following year.
SNC brings deep aerospace, defense, national security, and aircraft modification expertise - systems integration, command & control, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum dominance. They’ve been integrating systems for the US government since the 1960s.
Since the Ozmen family acquired SNC in 1994, they’ve acquired 19 companies and now operate in 36+ locations across the U.S., UK, Germany, and Turkey, with major contracts from DoD, NASA, and private space players.
Now, SNC’s Executive Vice President of ISR now sits on World View’s board🤯
‼️ Here’s what it means for World View & $ONDS:
World View supplies the platform - balloons that can loiter at 75,000ft for extended periods. SNC loads them with ISR sensors, electronic warfare, AI/ML, data transport, and comms networks.
Already proven in the field: SNC + World View successfully demonstrated the full combined system as part of the UK Ministry of Defence’s Project Aether - a real operational test ✅
Fast forward to April 2026: Ondas acquires World View for ~$150M.
Now the Stratollite tech supercharges Ondas’ complete ISR stack.
Balloons + drones + ground autonomy + Palantir AI - all while keeping the deep strategic relationship with SNC fully intact.
The icing on the cake? SNC also leverages Palantir’s Warp Speed across its aerospace program management, engineering, supply chain & manufacturing - just like World View.
This creates strong alignment & interoperability for complex defense builds and real-time data flows between World View, SNC, $PLTR & potentially $ONDS.
When Ondas CEO Eric Brock said, “I think the World View deal is worth at least what our market cap is worth today” (~$4B at the time)…he wasn’t kidding.
🔗 https://t.co/OE1qSvDRKc
A company that raised $2.57 billion in one round, backed by elite investors, with long-term strategic partnerships with major defense primes (SNC + $PLTR), and now powered by Ondas’ scalability?
Simply put, this is a billion-dollar business that Ondas just picked up for $150 million💰📈
