Autonomous Warship Startup Saronic Raising at $7.5 Billion Valuation

Saronic, a startup that builds autonomous warships, is raising as much as $1.5 billion in a financing that would value the company at about $7.5 billion, before including the investment, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Kleiner Perkins, the storied venture capital firm that has done few defense tech deals until now, has agreed to lead the round, the people said. It would more than double the valuation in a short time frame for Austin-based Saronic, which last raised funding about a year ago at a $3.4 billion valuation, before the funding.