Protection startup Epirus, Inc. is getting new management.
Employees have been advised at an all-hands assembly this morning that CEO Ken Bedingfield was leaving, TechCrunch realized. The information was later confirmed by an organization spokesperson, who advised TechCrunch that Bedingfield accepted a job at an unnamed public firm. He will probably be changed by COO Andy Lowery, efficient instantly.
Bedingfield held the title of CEO at Epirus for lower than a 12 months. Previous to that place, he served as COO and CFO since June 2020. He got here to Epirus from aerospace and protection big Northrop Grumman, the place he served as CFO.
Torrance, California-based Epirus develops “directed-energy” weapons that can be utilized to counter drones and different aerial autos. The product line, known as Leonidas, makes use of high-power microwave expertise mounted on a gimble to neutralize programs from up-close or afar. At first of this 12 months, the corporate landed a $66 million contract from the U.S. Military to ship a number of Leonidas prototypes this 12 months.
Epirus’ tech has garnered appreciable curiosity from traders too: final 12 months, the startup closed a $200 million Sequence C at a post-deal valuation of $1.35 billion, from traders together with T. Rowe Worth Associates, 8VC and Bedrock.
“Over the past year, Ken led the company through a number of important milestones and achievements, most notably the successful delivery of the first IFPC-HPM system to the U.S Army, cementing a clear pathway towards delivering an operational high-power microwave capability to the Department of Defense,” an Epirus spokesperson stated in an announcement.
