News

Ethan Thornton is trying to do everything all at once

Published

2 months ago

June 22, 2026

Preport

Ethan Thornton dropped out of MIT at 19 to build weapons. The first one, a hydrogen-powered system he prototyped with parts from Home Depot and Amazon, didn’t work out — “hydrogen was just a bad bet in general,” he told me this past week at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in Los Angeles. Three years later, his company, Mach Industries, is running six weapons programs and earlier this month closed a $300 million Series C round at a $1.8 billion valuation. The startup has now raised roughly $485 million altogether.

Thornton grew up in Burnet, Texas, a town with roughly 6,500 residents, in a family with deep military ties. Around 2017 or 2018 — when he was still in his early teens — he started becoming, by his own account, “really, really concerned” about the rise of China and what he saw as an impending great-power conflict. That concern eventually sharpened into a conviction that unmanned systems were about to redefine warfare, and that the U.S. was moving too slowly to meet the moment.

What that looks like in practice, midway through 2026, is those six simultaneous weapons programs and a company that has a lot to prove instead of focusing on one thing, getting that right, and then expanding. Thornton is aware that Mach’s diffuse focus creates some lingering questions for outsiders. “It’s very hard,” he volunteered Thursday night. But he doesn’t think defense rewards the kind of single-minded focus that rocket launch, say, demands. “It is a chess game you’re playing with an adversary,” he said, “with hundreds of different products that need to be shipped if we want security.” Pick just one, he suggested, and you’ve already lost the game.

These aren’t simple products. Mach is working on a vertical-takeoff strike aircraft, a long-range anti-ship missile, two stratospheric systems, a cheap surface-to-air interceptor built to kill drones, and — announced earlier this week — a 40-foot, roughly 4,000-pound Navy logistics-and-strike aircraft that takes off near-vertically and flies over a thousand miles with a thousand-pound payload.

That last one is a real jump for a company whose biggest aircraft to date has been about 13 feet long. And none of the six is in full-rate production yet. Thornton says Mach has won around 13 government contracts, most sitting in the middle stage of defense procurement — past initial design, into testing on a government range, but short of the rate-manufacturing tier that fewer than 10 programs industry-wide have ever reached.

He says several systems should see operational deployment by the end of this year, and that his goal is to push three of the six into rate manufacturing in that same window — which would mean going from hundreds of units a month to hundreds of thousands, at a factory that Thornton says Mach plans to stand up soon.

It’s an aggressive timeline laid on top of an already aggressive bet. But Mach’s underlying thesis is that the U.S. can’t out-manufacture China so it has to out-create it — find the first-mover advantage the way Ukraine has against Russia, despite being outproduced. “I don’t think we’re going to outmanufacture China,” Thornton said. “The thing America continues to do well, time after time, compared to China centers on creativity and productization.”

Thornton argues — as do other defense tech startups — that the true bottleneck isn’t the various platforms being built — it’s the supply chain beneath them. “The hard part is actually getting the stuff into the building,” he said: jet engines, solid rocket motors, radar. Mach built and fired two jet engines from scratch in about eight months, a process he says traditionally takes four years; it also in May acquired a 24-year-old solid rocket motor company, Exquadrum, for $50 million, beating out roughly eight other bidders per its own telling. Selling components, not just vehicles, now accounts for about half of Mach’s revenue.

Mach’s approach differs sharply from some of its peers. Shield AI, founded in 2015, spent years as essentially a one-product company around its V-BAT drone before unveiling a second platform, the autonomous X-BAT fighter, last October — and even that is being positioned as one large, deliberate bet, not a portfolio. Saronic, founded in 2022, builds only autonomous surface vessels, scaling one unified autonomy stack across hull sizes from six feet to 180 feet.

Both have been rewarded for that discipline: Shield AI raised $2 billion this year at a $12.7 billion valuation; Saronic raised $1.75 billion at $9.25 billion.

The company Mach’s strategy more closely resembles is Anduril — which is bigger, older, and the one company against which every other defense-tech startup gets measured, fairly or not. Thornton draws the comparison himself, though he argues there’s a meaningful difference between the two companies. “Anduril’s playbook has been very much top-down, starting with the software stack,” he said. “We’re very much bottom-up, starting from the hardware stack and then starting to wrap software around it.”

It’s a distinction, yes, but Mach is still inevitably operating in Anduril’s shadow. Anduril raised $5 billion in May at a $61 billion valuation — more than 30 times Mach’s — and in March it landed a 10-year, $20 billion-ceiling Army enterprise contract consolidating over 120 separate procurement actions. Whatever Mach is building toward, Anduril got there years and tens of billions of dollars earlier.

Thornton insists the field isn’t zero-sum. He points to the scale of the problem: China reportedly builds something like a thousand cruise missiles a day; the U.S. builds roughly one every three days. “X company and Y company and Z company could all go build these things and it still wouldn’t be enough production,” he said. He also argues the Pentagon structurally won’t allow a monopoly — that it deliberately keeps two or three vendors alive in each category rather than picking one winner.

Whether or not that’s a generous reading of the competitive landscape, I put it to him that Anduril’s most famous co-founder, Palmer Luckey, has never, as far as I can tell, acknowledged Mach publicly. Thornton shrugs off any suggestion that Anduril isn’t interested in making room for Mach, telling me he respects Luckey, and that they’re “on the same team,” fighting for the same goal of Western sovereignty.

No doubt his investors, including Sequoia, Khosla Ventures, and Ribbit Capital, couldn’t care less. Strip away the founder-prodigy framing — the Texas workshop, the MIT dropout story every profile leads with, including this one — and what’s left is a genuinely interesting experiment led by a founder who seems, at least, to know what he doesn’t know.

Thornton has been candid that the hardest part of running Mach changes every six months: engineering first, then sales, and now manufacturing at scale, which he expects to dominate the next year. He says he tries to protect four or five hours a day to think and “war game the future,” sometimes pulling colleagues off their work to do it with him — which, he admits, “can kind of frustrate them sometimes.”

On the question of who pushes back on him — who keeps a fast-rising founder honest — Thornton said the most valuable feedback doesn’t come from investors or even his executive team, who can end up in the same echo chamber as the CEO. It comes, he said, from the people actually doing the work.

He described routine company-wide forums, his COO’s idea, where employees get microphones and ask him anything. It started with Thornton quietly recruiting a few trusted colleagues to ask aggressive questions. It’s since evolved into something harder to control — and, he suggested, more useful for it. “I basically stand up there for like an hour,” he said, “and get asked the most aggressive possible questions by people in the company.” He seems to relish it.

For more, you can watch our sit-down with Thornton below.

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News

WAFU-B Women’s Champions League Qualifiers: Ruthless Edo Queens Crush AS Garde Nationale 7-0, Moses Bags Hat-Trick

Published

3 hours ago

August 24, 2026

Preport

Nigeria champions Edo Queens made a sensational start to their WAFU-B Women’s Champions League qualifying campaign after thrashing AS Garde Nationale of Niger 7-0 in their opening Group B encounter in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Edo Queens wasted no time making their intentions clear as Chioma Moses opened the scoring in the fifth minute, giving the Nigerian champions an early advantage and putting their opponents under immediate pressure.

Moses doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time after converting from the penalty spot, sending Edo Queens into the break with a commanding 2-0 advantage.

The Nigerian champions returned from the interval with even greater intensity, with Atume Doosuur scoring just two minutes into the second half to make it 3-0.

Doosuur completed her brace in the 56th minute before Aminat Folorunsho added a fifth goal six minutes later as Edo Queens continued to tear apart the AS Garde Nationale defence.

Moses completed her hat-trick in the 76th minute, producing the standout individual performance of the match, before Oluwakemi Adegbuyi put the finishing touch on the emphatic victory with the seventh goal in the third minute of stoppage time.

The victory was built around a sensational display from Chioma Moses, who emerged as the Woman of the Match after scoring three goals and playing a central role in Edo Queens’ dominant performance.

Moses’ hat-trick not only underlined her clinical finishing but also gave the Nigerian champions a major attacking weapon as they began their campaign in emphatic fashion.

The 7-0 demolition gives Edo Queens an early boost in their bid to secure another appearance at the CAF Women’s Champions League after their impressive run in the competition in 2024.

Edo Queens won the WAFU-B competition on their debut in 2024 before going on to finish fourth at the CAF Women’s Champions League later that year. (“aclsports.com” (https://www.aclsports.com/caf-womens-champions-league-edo-queens-in-burkina-faso-for-qualifiers/?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

Ahead of this year’s competition, Edo Queens assistant coach Gabriel Benson had expressed confidence in the squad and challenged the players to represent Nigeria and Edo State with pride.

“Edo Queens have all it takes to make the country proud,” Benson said before the tournament. (“punchng.com” (https://punchng.com/edo-queens-begin-wafu-b-campaign-against-as-gnn/?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

“The girls are ready and good to go.”

They backed up that confidence with a ruthless performance, with Moses’ hat-trick and Doosuur’s brace highlighting the attacking firepower available to the Nigerian champions.

Edo Queens will now turn their attention to their remaining Group B fixtures against ASEC Mimosas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghanaian champions Ampem Darkoa, knowing that stronger tests await them in their pursuit of a place in the CAF Women’s Champions League.

But after putting seven goals past AS Garde Nationale in their opening match, Edo Queens have already delivered a powerful warning to their WAFU-B rivals — and with Woman of the Match Chioma Moses leading the charge, the Nigerian champions look ready for another big continental run.

Business

Africa largest beneficiary of GEF funding – Official

Published

4 hours ago

August 24, 2026

Preport

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), a family of funds supporting environmental action globally, says African countries are the largest beneficiaries of its funding for sustainable environmental projects.

Ulrich Apel, GEF Senior Environmental Specialist, disclosed this on Monday while responding to questions on mechanisms for accessing environmental finance.

Apel said Africa had received about 30 per cent of GEF funding, ahead of Asia, which received 18 per cent, and Latin America and the Caribbean, which received 15 per cent.

“First of all, we have programmes that cover all the available funding. We programme all of our available funding, and in fact, the African region is the largest beneficiary of our funding, having received about 30 per cent of the funds, followed by Asia with 18 per cent, and Latin America and the Caribbean with 15 per cent,” he said.

He was responding to PREMIUM TIMES’ questions about how African countries, including Nigeria, could more easily access GEF funding.

According to him, African countries are a particular focus of the GEF’s funding because of the region’s vulnerability to land degradation, desertification and drought, which are central issues at the ongoing United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP17.

“So, I don’t think the problem is necessarily the accessibility of funds, because we programme all the funding that we have available,” Apel said.

The disclosure came as governments, financial institutions and businesses at UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia intensified efforts to mobilise finance for land restoration and drought resilience.

Finance takes centre stage at COP17

24 August was designated as Finance Day at UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with discussions across meeting rooms and the plenary hall focused on mobilising public and private investment for land restoration and drought resilience.

The 17th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD is placing particular emphasis on rangelands — including drylands, grasslands, shrublands, wetlands and deserts — which cover more than half of the Earth’s land surface.

Despite their importance to pastoralists, biodiversity, food systems and carbon storage, about half of the world’s rangelands are estimated to be degraded.

Against this backdrop, governments, development banks, investment funds and businesses participating in COP17 on Monday announced $1.3 billion in new and pipeline financing for land restoration and drought resilience across 23 countries on five continents.

GEF unveils drought programme

The GEF also announced the development of a new Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program aimed at helping countries proactively manage drought, strengthen resilience in drylands and respond to growing risks to ecosystems, food security, water availability, livelihoods and health.

The programme will be implemented during the GEF-9 investment cycle, covering 2026 to 2030.

The facility said the programme responds to requests from parties to the UNCCD for the GEF to prioritise drought resilience in its programming.

It will support countries and communities in better preparing for, monitoring, assessing, mitigating, and responding to the cascading impacts of drought.

“Investing in healthy land and healthy people means investing in food security, climate resilience, biodiversity, water, jobs, and peace,” said Claude Gascon, GEF Interim CEO and Chairperson.

“Through this new Integrated Program, we will support countries in moving from crisis response toward proactive drought resilience.”

The Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program has a tentative GEF grant envelope of $140 million.

It will work closely with the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, the Drought Resilience Investment Facility, and other initiatives that support resilience across drylands and rangelands.

GEF backs rangelands initiative

As part of the broader push, the GEF is also supporting the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, a multi-partner global initiative led by Mongolia and the UNCCD to significantly increase investments in conserving, sustainably managing and restoring rangelands.

The GEF supports the development and coordination of the initiative through the UNCCD COP17 Legacy Project, a $3.3 million GEF investment implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The project is leveraging an additional $8 million in co-financing from Mongolia and IUCN.

During the GEF-8 cycle, which runs from 2022 to 2026, the GEF approved 50 projects across its family of funds supporting sustainable rangeland management and restoration, as well as pastoralist livelihoods.

The projects represent a total investment of more than $300 million.

The GEF said the projects, which are at various stages of development, could complement the Rangelands Flagship Initiative and help scale up successful approaches to rangeland management and restoration.

What GEF-9 means for Africa

With an initial programming level of $3.9 billion, GEF-9 will support expanded investments in nature-positive development, drought resilience and sustainable land management.

Four GEF-9 Integrated Programs are strongly aligned with UNCCD objectives and are expected to attract more than $800 million in GEF grant funding.

READ ALSO: COP17 advances $1.3bn for land restoration, puts rangelands at centre

They include programmes focused on Food Systems, Critical Forest Biomes, Blue and Green Islands, and the new Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program.

Under GEF-9, drought resilience is expected to become more central, targeted and measurable.

The cycle includes a dedicated objective for implementing national drought plans, a drought vulnerability index incorporated into the resource allocation formula for countries, and new indicators to track improvements in drought resilience.

The GEF said GEF-9 would enable investments that help countries address urgent environmental priorities through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.

Across the GEF family of funds, 20 per cent of resources are expected to benefit Indigenous Peoples and local communities directly.

The replenishment also places greater emphasis on mobilising private capital for environmental action. Ten per cent of total GEF-9 funding is allocated to the blended finance window, with an overall target of using 25 per cent of GEF resources to help mobilise private-sector investment