Syracuse, N.Y. – Hidden Level is hidden no more.
The Syracuse startup is growing rapidly and is getting noticed by venture capitalists. With a recent infusion of $100 million in new investor funding, it’s on track to grow even more, right here in Central New York.
The company was founded in 2018 to develop a system for detecting and tracking hard-to-see drones that pose a danger of mid-air collisions with manned aircraft.
But with drones playing a crucial role in the war in Ukraine, the company’s systems have suddenly caught the attention of the U.S. military, opening up a whole new market for Hidden Level.
Both Ukraine and Russia have made extensive use of cheap, powerful and hard-to-detect drones to inflict major damage on each other’s ground forces.
“In the conflict in Ukraine, drones fundamentally changed warfare,” said CEO and co-founder Jeff Cole.
Back in 2018, Hidden Level had just a few employees. By 2021, it was up to 25. By the end of 2023, it had 60. And at the start of April, it was up to 104.
And the career page of company’s website lists 19 open positions in engineering, information technology, operations, programming, contract administration, manufacturing, and sales and marketing.
“It just started going really fast,” said Cole, who founded the company with fellow SRC alum Gary Dominicos, the company’s chief administrative officer. “We’re constantly interviewing and looking for talent and growth.”
Hidden Level tracks an aerial drone and the location of its controller in the village of Skaneateles.Courtesy of Hidden Level
The growth has been so strong, Hidden Level keeps running out of office and manufacturing space.
The company moved in 2021 from a 2,500-square-foot office on West Fayette Street to a 10,000-square-foot office at 1014 N. Geddes St.
But it soon needed more room. So it opened a second 10,000-square-foot facility to house its manufacturing operations on Collamer Road in DeWitt.
“We have multiple product lines now, but all our final assembly, manufacturing, production, shipping, receiving, is all done over there,” said Cole.
It was not long before it began outgrowing the new manufacturing space.
“We opened that facility and it was immediately too small,” Cole said.
The company is now making plans to open a second manufacturing site — this one 20,000 square feet — across the street by the end of the year.
More recently, Hidden Level opened an office near Clinton Square that houses its human resources, contracting, finance, product and programming team.
And the company is considering building a larger headquarters in the Syracuse Inner Harbor neighborhood, just a few blocks from its current location on North Geddes Street.
An architect’s rendering shows the design of the possible future headquarters of Hidden Level Inc. in Syracuse’s Inner Harbor neighborhood. (King & King Architects)King & King Architects
The state of New York has approved a $2.5 million grant and up to $2.5 million in tax credits tied to job creation at the Inner Harbor site if the company agrees to open its new headquarters there.
Cole said the company, with help from state and local partners, is looking at multiple sites in the Syracuse area for a location that would provide room for future expansion, as well as space for an outdoor testing facility.
“Our end goal is to combine our facilities, a larger facility that will house operations, finance, HR, contract, sales, R&D, manufacturing, production,” he said. “We want to try and bring as much of that all back together into one big facility.”
The Inner Harbor location is promising because of its central location, but going there is “not a signed, sealed, done” deal, he said.
Hidden Level employees in Syracuse design and assemble systems that detect aerial drones.Courtesy of Hidden Level
“We’ve done a lot of work on it, and we worked really closely with folks around seeing how that can scale for us, but it is not 100% locked yet,” he said. “We’re working toward that, but there’s just more things we still have to go through to evaluate all the aspects.”
At the same time, the company will likely hold onto some of its current collection of offices, he said.
“We know that we’ll maintain the smaller facilities as well, because we’ll need them for overflow and other things like that,” he said.
The sudden world focus on the role drones are playing in national security has drawn attention to Hidden Level and its ability to detect them.
In February, the company announced $65 million in venture funding led by DFJ Growth with participation from Booz Allen Ventures, Revolution Growth, Costanoa Ventures, Washington Harbour Partners, Veteran Ventures, Founders Circle Capital and others.
The investment came just six months after Hidden Level attracted $35 million in venture funding.
Initially, Hidden Level sold its drone-detection systems to local governments and airports so they could monitor drone incursions into commercial air space. It also offered a subscription service in which Hidden Levels operates the system and makes the data available to customers for a fee.
Hidden Level antennas stationed in Geddes search for aerial drones. In the distance are the New York State Fairgrounds and Onondaga Lake.Courtesy of Hidden Level
It has now moved into the defense field. As a privately held company, Hidden Level does not publicly disclose its revenues, but Cole said military contracts are now a major part of the company’s sales.
Traditional radar, whether military or civilian, has trouble detecting small, low-flying drones, especially when the radar signals produce unwanted echoes after bouncing off buildings and other objects on the ground.
But Hidden Level has designed “passive” radar systems that do not emit electronic signals like regular radar does. Instead, its systems consist of a series of antennas that “listen” for the radio frequencies operators use to control their drones.
By triangulating those signals, Hidden Level’s antennas can detect drones and even pinpoint the location of their operators.
But not all drones emit RF signals. But Hidden Level has developed a solution for them, too.
In Ukraine, both sides have used “dark drones,” which fly pre-programmed flights without emitting any RF signals that might give away their presence.
Cole said Hidden Level’s systems look for other RF signals and radar signals in the skies as they bounce off of unsuspecting drones. By triangulating those signals, the company can detect and track drones, he said.
Such systems can be particularly useful to militaries because they can detect unfriendly dark drones without giving away the position of friendly forces on the ground.
“Our technology is all passive,” Cole said. “It’s very unique because it doesn’t emit a signal.”
A Hidden Level sensor searches for aerial drones in the skies over Washington, D.C.Courtesy of Hidden Level
The war in Ukraine has shown that, even here in the U.S., armed drones can pose a major risk for sensitive military, government and civilian installations, he said.
“America, for the longest time, you’ve got the Atlantic and the Pacific, and those oceans have always offered us protection, keeping us far away,” he said. “But all the oceans now are like creeks. Drones have changed everything. They make you much more at risk, and they’re very cheap.”
Hidden Level now has contracts to provide its systems to the Army, Air Force and other U.S. military commands, as well as federal, state and local agencies, to address drone threats to U.S. national security, critical infrastructure and military bases.
The company’s technology has been deployed to monitor major events, including the presidential inauguration in January. And it’s planning to expand soon to international markets.
Cole said the company’s antennas can be quickly attached to cell towers, rooftops, boats and vehicles, and can even be carried by a soldier. And they can be integrated into existing airspace monitoring technologies, such as active radars, he said.
“We’re very quick and nimble,” he said. “Our customers love that.”
Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | X | Facebook | 315-470-3148