U.S.-based seaglider maker REGENT lands $240 million in new funding

REGENT Craft has raised $240 million in Series B funding, split evenly between equity and debt, the Rhode Island-based seaglider manufacturer announced Thursday.

The round was co-led by investment firms Mare Liberum and AE Ventures, with debt capital provided by Erebor Bank. The new funding brings REGENT’s total raised to date, across equity and debt, to $340 million.

REGENT builds Seaglider vessels, wing-in-ground effect craft that use hydrofoils to lift off the water and skim just above the surface within a wingspan’s height. The company describes the design as combining aircraft speed with the operational simplicity of a boat.

The company said the funding arrives ahead of several near-term milestones, including the first human flight of its Viceroy Seaglider prototype and the start of production at REGENT’s newly completed 255,000-square-foot (23,690 square meter) manufacturing facility in Rhode Island.

REGENT said it has seen growing military interest across its product line, which the company attributed to the Department of War’s focus on maritime operating areas. That interest includes an expanded U.S. Marine Corps contract, now valued at $15 million, for the Viceroy platform, along with rising interest in Squire, REGENT’s autonomous Seaglider drone.

Squire recently completed a demonstration at Silent Swarm, a military experimentation event sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance.

Paladin all-electric, passenger-carrying, wing-in-ground-effect vehicles. Photo by Amory Ross

“This investment marks a critical inflection point for REGENT as we move from development into production,” said Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of REGENT. “We have built significant momentum across both our defense and commercial pipelines, and this funding enables us to scale manufacturing, execute key certification milestones, and deliver Seagliders to customers.”

“As maritime defense priorities evolve, operators need new capabilities that deliver greater speed, reach, and flexibility,” said Admiral Lorin Selby, General Partner at Mare Liberum. “REGENT is a leader in this emerging category with a strong track record of technical development and growing engagement with defense customers.”

Erebor Bank, which provided the round’s debt financing, was co-founded by Palmer Luckey, the entrepreneur who also founded military contractor Anduril.

“Rebuilding America’s industrial base means banking the companies actually willing to build things again,” said Owen Rapaport, co-founder and CEO of Erebor Bank. “REGENT is proof that American manufacturing can still move at startup speed.”

Other investors in the round include DCVC, along with returning backers Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Japan Airlines and Giant Step Capital.

REGENT said it has built a commercial order book spanning six continents, with multiple years of manufacturing capacity already booked. The company is also expanding internationally, continuing a partnership with the Abu Dhabi-based Strategic Development Fund on planned Seaglider operations and manufacturing in the United Arab Emirates. REGENT has separate partnerships with Balnord in Poland, focused on defense requirements in the Baltic Sea, and with iGrow in Greece for commercial operations across the Aegean Islands.

REGENT’s Squire autonomous seaglider drew attention earlier this year following a February defense briefing in Quonset, Rhode Island, attended by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. In an interview with The Defence Blog at the time, Tom Huntley, General Manager of REGENT Defense, described Squire as designed to handle high-risk, repetitive logistics and ISR missions in contested littoral zones, freeing manned ships and aircraft for more complex combat roles. The Squire prototype has since been cleared for testing by the U.S. Coast Guard and remains in an ongoing envelope expansion campaign, according to Huntley.