Dive Brief:
- Shield AI, a fast-growing defense technology company building AI pilots for aircraft, named Francois Chadwick as its CFO, effective immediately, the company said on Aug. 22.
- Chadwick has over 30 years of financial experience — including as an Uber executive. In that role he grew the finance team from 20 employees to 1,100, and helped take the company public.
- San Diego-based Shield AI recently held a Series E funding round in June where they reached a valuation of $2.3 billion. The company is one of four, multi-billion-dollar defense technology startups launched during the past 20 years.
Dive Insight:
Shield AI took to social media to announce the appointment. “During our search for a CFO, the team considered numerous public company CFOs, tech CFOs, bankers, and finance professionals — each with distinguished backgrounds and keen interest in joining Shield AI,” the company said in a LinkedIn post.
“Francois stood out for his deep technical expertise, embrace of our shared values, and his unique experiences — including taking companies public and building great organizations from scratch,” said company CEO Ryan Tseng in a statement. He has had a plethora of experience in the past both from a finance and operational perspective, Tseng said in an emailed response to questions.
Before coming to Shield AI, Chadwick sat at the top finance seat of Volta Charging, an electronic vehicle charging company, since May of 2021. Before that, he played a large role in the growth of Uber, starting as an external financial and tax advisor in 2011 and working his way up the ladder to vice president of finance, tax and accounting until he left the company in 2021, according to his LinkedIn.
While at Uber, Chadwick helped the company go public by achieving a market capitalization of $120 billion, said Shield AI in their statement.
As for Chadwick’s immediate plans for Shield AI, he will be focusing on continuing to build out a world-class finance function, enabling continued growth and global expansion and ensuring controls and processes are in place to all for hyper-growth scale, Tseng said.
Although Shield AI has yet to go public, the appointment of Chadwick and the expansion of their leadership team could be a push in that direction. “(Chadwick) will look to bring (his) skills to bear at Shield as it continues its growth journey and its international expansion. This will include creating a company that is ready to be public when the right time occurs,” Tseng said.
The company in June raised $90 million in equity and $75 million in debt as part of a Series E funding round led by Snowpoint Ventures.
Co-founded by a former Navy Seal in 2015, the company said it aims to protect service members and civilians with AI pilots and intelligent systems.
