From Teen Founder & Hydrogen Scare to $85M Defense Tech Powerhouse: The Mach Industries Story
Discover how teen founder Ethan Thornton steered Mach Industries past an early explosion & pivot to become Sequoia's $85M-backed defense tech leader.
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From Teen Founder & Hydrogen Scare to $85M Defense Tech Powerhouse: The Mach Industries Story
It's not every day that a powerhouse venture capital firm like Sequoia Capital makes its first investment in the defense technology sector. When they do, you know the company has something special. That company is Mach Industries, founded by the remarkable Ethan Thornton, who embarked on this journey as a teenage MIT student before committing fully to his startup, now aged 21. Since its inception in 2023, Mach Industries has captured significant attention, raising over $80 million and positioning itself as a key player to watch. Image Credits:Mach Industries Early Challenges: A Hydrogen Explosion and Lessons Learned However, the path to becoming an industry darling wasn't without serious hurdles. As reported by Forbes and now discussed publicly by Thornton for the first time (during an appearance at StrictlyVC in San Francisco on April 3, 2025), Mach faced a significant setback just months before securing that crucial Sequoia seed funding in mid-2023. A prototype hydrogen-powered …