Ryan Tseng

Ryan Tseng was one of the two middle children among four siblings. He earned a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida and later an MBA from MIT; he worked briefly as a consultant at McKinseyMcKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & Company is a management consulting firm headquartered in New York, United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey and, after Marvin Bower established its “professional service” principles, grew into one of the largest pure consulting firms in the world; as of October 2026 it has more than 100 offices in over 50 countries and about 40,000 employees. It has also repeatedly faced regulatory investigations and public criticism over episodes such as its work with Enron, a former leader’s insider trading case, and its consulting for opioid manufacturers.Open the full entry before moving into technology.⁠[1][2]

He founded WiPower, a wireless charging company that was later acquired by Qualcomm, and in 2010 he joined Qualcomm as an engineering manager.⁠[1][2]

In 2015 Tseng, his brother Brandon Tseng, who had served in Afghanistan, and Andrew Reiter, a robotics engineer from Draper Laboratory, launched the defense technology company Shield AI in San Diego, with Ryan Tseng as chief executive officer. Recalling the company’s early days in 2020, he said: “Closing our seed round gave us just enough resources to take a shot.”⁠[1][3]

On May 27, 2018, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) released the episode “a16z Podcast: Autonomy in Service,” in which Tseng, as CEO and co-founder of Shield AI, spoke with Gregory Allen, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Shield AI’s chief marketing officer, and a16z’s Hanne Tidnam.⁠[4]

The episode examined how AI and automation affect national security as conflicts increasingly move into urban environments and counterinsurgency operations where civilians and combatants are hard to distinguish, and how autonomous technologies could better protect service members, support in-the-moment human decision-making and shift global security power dynamics. It was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[4][5]

In October 2023 Shield AI raised $200 million in a Series F round at a company valuation of $2.7 billion, co-led by the U.S. Innovation Technology Fund (USIT) and Riot Ventures. Tseng, then chief executive, said the company had spent almost nine years building “the world's best AI pilot from a common AI backbone.” Its core product, Hivemind, is AI pilot software that can fly aircraft without GPS; the V-BAT drone was developed by Martin UAV, which Shield AI acquired in 2021.⁠[6]

On April 9, 2025, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) released “The Future of Drone Warfare,” recorded live at the third annual a16z American Dynamism Summit and led by Matt Cronin, a16z’s senior national security advisor, with Tseng appearing as co-founder and CEO of Shield AI alongside Adam BryAdam BryAdam Bry is an American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded the drone company Skydio with Abe Bachrach in 2014 and serves as its chief executive officer. He earlier co-founded Google[x]’s Project Wing.Open the full entry, co-founder and CEO of Skydio; on April 11, 2025, the conversation was uploaded to the a16z YouTube channel as “Drone Warfare: The New Rules of Combat Are Here.”⁠[7][8]

The conversation covered how drones are reshaping battlefields in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere, the cost asymmetry of inexpensive drones attacking expensive armor, why U.S. drone production trails China’s and how to close the gap, ethical and tactical questions about autonomy in combat, and U.S. reindustrialization and deterrence; the video’s chapters also include swarm technologies and AI superiority and advice for aspiring defense technology founders.⁠[8]

On November 5, 2026, the company, now named Shield, announced an agreement to acquire the radar company Echodyne in a transaction valued at $5.3 billion, with $4.8 billion paid and issued at closing and up to $500 million more tied to performance targets; it also announced $2.5 billion in financing, comprising $1 billion in Series H equity at a $28.8 billion post-money valuation, $1 billion in structured equity from funds managed by BlackstoneBlackstoneBlackstone is an alternative asset manager serving institutional and individual investors. Its official website states that its assets under management exceeded $1.3 trillion as of June 30, 2026.Open the full entry and $500 million in debt led by JPMorgan ChaseJPMorgan Chase & Co.JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a financial holding company headquartered in New York that operates investment banking, consumer and small business financial services, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands; its roots trace back to the Manhattan Company of 1799.Open the full entry Bank, with the deal expected to close in early 2027.⁠[9]

Tseng is president, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Shield; he previously served as chief executive officer from the company’s inception, and the company states that under his leadership it grew to 1,000 teammates and reached a $5 billion valuation. The company’s current chief executive is Gary Steele, a former CEO of Splunk.⁠[2]

Shield AI: Official website: https://shield.ai/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]