All data can be found on the Emerging Defense website here!

1. 6 companies raise $281M

2. The M&A market continues as Arkenstone and DRS Leonardo snap up companies

3. Lakestar raises a $300M Resilience fund

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Hypercraft: Building the unmanned ground vehicles and operating software

Funding Rounds

1. Greenjets (drone propulsion systems)

   1. Raised: $40.0M Series A led by Blossom Capital with participation from NATO Innovation Fund (NIF)

2. Twenty (cyber warfare)

   1. Raised: $30.0M Series B led by Khosla Ventures

3. AndrenaM (maritime sensing network)

   1. Raised: $18.0M Series A led by Upfront Ventures with participation from Valor Equity Partners, First Round Capital, Also Capital, Long Journey Ventures

4. Cathedral (cyber warfare)

   1. Raised: $160.0M Seed led by a16z and Sequoia

5. FPF Defense (medium range drone interceptors)

   1. Raised: $10.0M Seed led by RSE Ventures and Ondas

6. Agon (synthetic battlefield for training autonomous systems)

   1. Raised: $23.0M Seed led by Lux Capital and XYZ Ventures with participation from Lakestar, D3, 201 Ventures, Northzone

Acquisitions

1. Arkenstone acquired GovPort

2. Leonardo DRS acquired Raft for $450M in cash

Fund Raises

1. Lakestar: $300M Resilience Fund I

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

All data can be found on the Emerging Defense website here!

1. 4 new Y Combinator backed counter drone companies added to the database

2. 8 companies raise $3.4B, Europe alone was $3B of that

3. $225M in new defense reachable funds by Expeditions Capital in Europe

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

All companies are backed by Y Combinator

1. Earendil: Small unit level counter drone solutions

2. Impact Drones: Interceptor drones in a box

3. Greypoint Industries: Man portable drone interceptors designed for mass manufacturing

4. Isengard: Mass-produced AI strike systems and Counter-UAS systems

Funding Rounds

1. Quantum Systems

   1. Building: European drones

   2. Raised: $1.2B Series D led by Blackstone and BOND and Noteus and Advent International with participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, A. P. Moller Holding, Wellington Management, Balderton Capital, Airbus Ventures, HV Capital, Elephant Lake Ventures

2. Arkenstone

   1. Building: Back office software for defense companies

   2. Raised: $35.0M Seed led by J2 Ventures with participation from Granite Hill Capital Partners, Susa Ventures, ARTIS Ventures

3. Surtr

   1. Building: Counter drone sensor fusion

   2. Raised: $4.8M Seed led by Allegis Capital and Streamlined Ventures and Gaingels and Robinhood Ventures and Eniac Ventures

4. Kraken Technology Group

   1. Building: Manufacturing USVs

   2. Raised: $175.0M Series B led by DTCP with participation from HICO Investment Group, Supernova Invest, British Business Bank, Boka Capital, Thesiger, NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Hakluyt Capital, Rheinmetal, Inocea Group

5. Skapion

   1. Building: Counter drone swarm systems

   2. Raised: $36.0M Seed led by UP.Partners and Khosla Ventures with participation from Q Fund, Stratos Ventures, TBD VC, Fusion VC

6. Singularity Space

   1. Building: Counter drone missiles

   2. Raised: $80.0M Series A led by Felicis and Khosla Ventures with participation from New Vista Capital, Y Combinator, Long Journey Ventures, Menlo Ventures, AE Industrial Partners(Boeing Horizon X), Sunflower Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Harpoon Ventures, Decisive Point

7. Valarian

   1. Building: Data infrastructure for governments and defense companies

   2. Raised: $50.0M Series A led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) with participation from IQ Capital, LIghtbank, Sequel, XTX Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Litquidity Ventures

8. Helsing

   1. Building: European defense neoprime

   2. Raised: $1.8B Series E with participation from JP Morgan, Disruptive, Canada Pension Plan (CPP Investments), Accel, Prima Materia, Goldman Sachs, StepStone Group, General Catalyst, Lightspeed, Plural, Disruptive, Iconiq, Dragoneer

Acquisitions

1. Ondas Acquired Dzyne Technologies for $876M (source: Tectonic)

Fund Raises

1. Expeditions Fund: $225M Fund II

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Summary

All data can be found on the Emerging Defense website here!

1. Traysar (subterranean) and Shifters (ground robots) launch from stealth

2. 13 companies raised $2.9B, led by huge rounds from Stark Industries, Mach Industries, and Mach Industries

3. 4 VC firms raised $1.8B in new funding that target defense

Company Launches

1. Traysar

   Building: Subterranean warfare company starting with tunnel demolition

   Raised: $25.0M Seed led by Silent Ventures with participation from Lux Capital, Ora Global

2. Shifters

   Building: Small AI powered ground robots for dangerous missions

   Raised: $10.2M Seed led by Ace Capital Partners with participation from Corner Ventures, Aurelius Capital, Arkin Capital

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Renegade UxS: Denmark based drones (FPV and fixed wing)

2. Flying Basket: Italian heavy lift drones

Funding Rounds

1. Mach Industries

   1. Building: Variety of defense platforms

   2. Raised: $300M Series C at a $1.8B valuation led by Ribbit Capital and Infinite Capital with participation from Bedrock Capital, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia

2. Volund Manufacturing

   1. Building: Developing and manufacturing gas turbine propulsion systems for Group 1 to Group 3 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

   2. Raised: $12M Seed led by Root Ventures and Squadra Ventures with participation from Output Capital, Alpha Delta Ventures, First In, Marlinspike Capital

3. Allen Control Systems

   1. Building: Robotic anti drone system using standard machine guns

   2. Raised: $200M Series B at a led by Smash Capital with participation from Craft Ventures, Litquidity Ventures, Rally Ventures, Inspired Capital

4. Alta Ares

   1. Building: Autonomous guidance systems for low-cost and scalable interceptor drones

   2. Raised: $58.0M Series A led by Air Street Capital with participation from Cherry Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, OTB Ventures

5. Twenty

   1. Building: Building Ai agents and end-to-end systems that accelerate the entire offensive cyber operations lifecycle

   2. Raised: $10.0M Series B led by Accel with participation from p72 Ventures, Friends and Family Capital, Caffeinated Capital

6. Comand AI

   1. Building: AI powered command and control

   2. Raised: $32.0M Series A led by Blossom Capital with participation from Saab, Expeditions Fund

7. STARK

   1. Building: Building autonomous strike drones and USVs

   2. Raised: $567.0M Series A led by Sequoia and Founders Fund with participation from 201 Ventures, Deopfner Capital, Advent International, Air Street Capital, NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Project A Ventures

8. Askari Defense

   1. Building: Counter Drone autonomous micro-strike capabilities

   2. Raised: $9.0M Seed led by Builders VC with participation from Overline, Teamworthy Ventures, Sovereign’s Capital, Blackwing VC, Georgia Tech Foundation, Rule1 Ventures, Knoll Ventures, Swell VC, Waterstone Impact Fund

9. MAKO (formerly Microtau)

   1. Building: Drag-reducing shark skin-inspired adhesive film for aviation

   2. Raised: $20.0M Series A led by Virescent Ventures with participation from IP Group, International Airlines Group (IAG), Zero Infinity Partners, TreeArc, Grok Ventures, Skip Capital

10. Dominion Dynamics

    1. Building: Building an interoperable command layer for the Arctic

    2. Raised: $100.0M Series A led by Georgian with participation from Omers, JDY Capital, Golden Ventures, Expeditions Fund, Garage Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Deloitte Ventures (Canada), Lakestar, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), Silent Ventures, Valor Equity Partners

Acquisitions

1. Motorola acquired D-Fend Solutions (counter UAS infrastructure) for $1.5B

Fund Raises

1. Discipulus Ventures: $30M Fund I

2. Harpoon Ventures: $155M Fund IV

3. Cantos: $70M Fund IV

4. 8VC: $1.5B Fund VII

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Summary

All data can be found on the Emerging Defense website here!

1. Mirai Robotics (maritime), Smack Technologies (AI), UFORCE (Ukrainian systems), Enigma (logistics), and Airbase (RF) all launch from stealth

2. Varindor (Digital Battlespace twin), Bandelier Technologies (Quantum), General Trajectory (Software), Inbiome (lab testing) added to Emerging Defense tracking

3. 8 companies raised over $4B, led by huge rounds from Saronic and Shield AI

4. Overmatch Ventures ($250M) and Aero X Ventures ($100M) announced new funds

State of the Market

New defense tech company formation appears to have peaked in 2024, 2025 has begun to see a reversal back to 2023 levels

Company Launches

1. Mirai Robotics:

   1. Building: Software + hardware for uncrewed autonomous surface vehicles

   2. Raised: $4.2M Pre-seed round led by Primo Ventures, Techshop, and 40Jemz Ventures, with participation from Italian and international angel investors

2. Smack Technologies:

   1. Building: A frontier AI lab for national security.

   2. Raised: $32M across a Seed Round (led by Point72 Ventures) and a Series A (led by Geodesic Capital and Costanoa Ventures)

3. UFORCE:

   1. Building: Conglomerate of Ukrainian defense systems

   2. Raised: $50M Seed Round at a $1BN valuation led by Shield Capital, Lakestar

4. Enigma:

   1. Building: Software-defined, autonomous logistics

   2. Raised: $2M Pre-Seed in 2024

5. Airbase:

   1. Building: Building the unified software platform for dynamic RF spectrum licensing, coordination, and intelligence

   2. Raised: $5M Seed round led by a16z with participation from Founders You Should Know, Squadra Ventures

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Varindor

   1. Building: Real-Time Battlespace Digital Twin

2. General Trajectory

   1. Building: Reasoning models for robotics (YC Winter 2025 batch)

3. Inbiome:

   1. Building: Rapid clinical sample testing, raised a $16M Series A led by NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Slingshot Ventures

4. Bandelier Technologies

   1. Building: Long-range quantum detection and imaging systems

Funding Rounds

1. Vanguard Defense:

   1. Building: Automated labeling platform for custom defense data,

   2. Raised: $5M Seed Round with Champion Hill, First In, Boost VC

2. Nominal:

   1. Building: A connected software suite to test and operate hardware

   2. Raised: $80M Series B extesntion led by Founders Fund with participation from Sequoia, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Lightspeed, Avenir, Haystack, Red Glass Ventures

3. Orqa:

   1. Building: Vertically integrated builder of FPV drones

   2. Raised: $14.7M Series A led by Expeditions Fund with participation from Aymo Ventures, Lightspeed, Radius Capital, Taiwania Capital

4. Isembard:

   1. Building: Franchising manufacturing with custom software

   2. Raised: $50M Series A led by Union Square Ventures with participation from Notion Capital, Tamarack Global, IQ Capital, CIV

5. Shield AI:

   1. Building: Fully autonomous aerial systems

   2. Raised: $2B growth round led by Advent International and JP Morgan with participation from Riot Ventures, Snowpoint VC, Apandion, InnovationX, Disruptive

6. Performance Drone Works (PDW):

   1. Building: Designs, engineers and manufacturers small unmanned systems

   2. Raised: $110M Series B led by Ondas with participation from Booz Allen Ventures, Cedar Pine, Hood River Capital Management, Hanwha

7. Sift:

   1. Building: A unified solution for ingesting, storing, and analyzing vast amounts of machine data

   2. Raised: $42M Series B in July and announced it this month. The round was led by StepStone Group with participation from CIV, Fika Ventures, Google Ventures, Riot Ventures

8. Saronic:

   1. Building: Autonomous ships and shipbuilding capability

   2. Raised: $1.75B Series D at a $9.25B valuation led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Advent International, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, a16z, 8VC, Franklin Templeton, Elad Gil, Caffeinated Capital, BAM Elevate

Fund Raises

1. Overmatch Ventures raised a $250M Fund II

2. AeroX Ventures announced the launch of its $100M Fund II

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Summary

1. Critical Materials Group emerges from stealth

2. 6 companies raised $157M across Africa, the US, Europe, and Australia

3. 6 new companies added to Emerging Defense tracking, mostly drone related

   Subscribe now

Company Launches

1. Critical Materials Group (CMG):

   1. Building: Austin based energetics production using modern manufacturing techniques emerged from stealth

Funding Rounds

1. Terra Industries:

   1. Building: Africa's defense prime

   2. Raised: A $22M Seed bridge round led Lux Capital, with participation from 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital, Tofino Capital, Resilience17

2. Chariot Defense:

   1. Building: A defense power prime

   2. Raised: $34M Series A led by a16z. Overmatch Ventures, XYZ Ventures, LMNT Ventures, Marlinspike Capital, Ensemble VC, Shield Capital, General Catalyst and Trenches Capital also participated

3. Noda AI:

   1. Building: Orchestration software for autonomous systems

   2. Raised: $25M Series A at a $125M valuation led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Alumni Ventures, Draper Associates, Bloomberg Beta, Crosslink Capital, Booz Allen Ventures, and Outlander also participated

4. Tytan:

   1. Building: Cheap interceptor drones

   2. Raised: $35M Series A led by NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) and Armira with D3, Visionaries Club, Lakestar, , Magnetic Capital, OTB Ventures, and 10x Group participating.

5. Frankenburg:

   1. Building: Developing next-generation interceptor missiles for short-range air defence and counter-UAS

   2. Raised: $35M Series A led by Plural

6. Breaker:

   1. Building: Voice orchestration for swarming autonomous systems

   2. Raised: $6M in Seed Funding at a $28M valuation led by Bessemer Venture Partners and joined by Main Sequence Ventures

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. DroneTector:

   1. Building: High-resolution radar for drone detection

2. Planetfall

   1. Building: Balloon dropped strike drones

3. Endstate Technologies

   1. Building: AI mission planning

4. Seeing Systems

   1. Building: FPV strike drones

5. Kyten Technologies

   1. Building: Custom battery packs for Aerospace and Defense

6. Sea Machines

   1. Building: Autonomous control and navigation systems for defense and commercial boats and ships.

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Summary

1. Petrel Technologies (low cost Group 3 drones) and Onodrim (European defense backed by Founders Fund, General Catalyst, and Lakestar) emerge from stealth

2. $322M was raised by Tenna (Electronic warfare), Quantum Systems (German drones), Radicl (Cybersecurity), Overland AI (ground autonomoy), and Whitespace (AI intelligence analysis)

3. 8 new early stage companies added to Emerging Defense

Company Launches

1. Petrel Technologies:

   1. Building: Low cost (made out of carbon fiber and balsa wood), autonomous Group 3 drones

   2. Funding: Raised $3.5M in pre-seed funding from family offices

2. Onodrim:

   1. Building: European defense and industrial technology platform developing the next generation of hardware, software, and industrial capacity

   2. Funding: Raised $47M in Seed funding backed by heavy hitters General Catalyst, Lakestar, and Founders Fund

Funding Rounds

1. Tenna:

   1. Building: Electromagnetic spectrum management with cutting-edge RF Spectrum Intelligence solutions for defense and critical mobility sectors

   2. Raised: $13.5M Seed Round led by Costanoa Ventures and joined by 202 Ventures, Viola Ventures, Fresh Fund

2. Quantum Systems:

   1. Building: German based drones and intelligence systems

   2. Raised: $178M in loans, €70 million ($83 million) came from from the European Investment Bank

3. Radicl:

   1. Building: Cybersecurity for SMBs, especially targeting the defense industrial base

   2. Raised: A $31M Series A led by Paladin Capital Group with Denver Ventures, Cervin Ventures, and Access Ventures participating

4. Overland AI:

   1. Building: Ground autonomy for defense

   2. Raised: $100M in fresh funding, led by 8VC with participation from Overmatch Ventures, p72 Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, Valor Equity Partners, StepStone Group. $20M of the round was debt provided by TriplePoint Capital

5. Whitespace

   1. Building: AI powered intelligence analysis

   2. Raised: $3.2M Seed round co led by Caffeinated Capital and MaC Venture Capital

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Eagle Ray Robotics:

   1. Building: Submersible drones and advanced sensing systems for autonomous intelligence, surveillance, and infrastructure monitoring

2. Knightwerx

   1. Building: Man portable VTOL sUAS systems for kinetic strikes

3. Swarm Defense:

   1. Building: Swarming software and FPV drones

4. Anote:

   1. Building: Automated tagging of data and evaluation of Gen AI models for red teaming

5. Kraus Hamdani Aerospace:

   1. Building: High altitude, high endurance electric ISR drones

   2. Notes: They recently received a $20M contract with the Army

6. North Vector Dynamics:

   1. Building: A variety of counter drone solutions, from interceptor drones to missiles

   2. Notes: They’ve raised money from One9, AIN Ventures, Garage Capital, Vanedge Capital, Feld Ventures, Northside Ventures, Nordspace Ventures, and Class 5

7. Corvus Industries:

   1. Building: Group 1-3 counter drone man portable interceptor rocket system

8. Shantipole Labs:

   1. Building: Canadian company building autonomous Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs).

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Emerging Defense 2025 Market Report

After a lot of work, we launched the 2025 Emerging Defense Market report! It contains the most comprehensive funding breakdown of the defense tech market to date (sector, investment stage, overall activity, and more!).

Access it here!

Company Launches

1. Bulwark:

   1. Building: Autonomous shore to shore resupply ships for operations in contested environments

   2. Funding: They raised a undisclosed pre-seed round in September 2025.

Funding Rounds

1. Titan Dynamics

   1. Building: Fixed wing, low cost, 3D printed VTOL drones

   2. Raised: $9M Series A backed by Long Journey, Tamarack Global, NVTBL, Epakon Capital, Discipulus Ventures, HF0 Residency, Cherubic Ventures

2. Grid Aero

   1. Building: Autonomous cargo drones for contested logistics

   2. Raised: $20M Series A led by Bison Ventures & Geodesic Capital with participation from Ubiquity Ventures, Stony Lonesome Group, Alumni Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Commonweal Ventures

3. Dominion Dynamics

   1. Building: A Canadian defense prime, focused on Arctic security

   2. Raised: $15.2M Seed led by Georgian with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners & British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Arctus Aerospace:

   1. Building: Unmanned medium altitude long endurance aerial vehicles. Integrated flight systems and combat capable UAVs with payloads ranging from 100 to 250 kg

   2. Raised: $2.6M a Pre-Seed in November 2025 led by VersionOne Ventures, joined by South Park Commons, gradCapital, and angels including Balaji Srinivasan

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

1. Terra Industries launches from stealth backed by top tier investors to build an African defense prime

2. OneBrief (Series D) and Valinor (Series A) raise a combined $254M in funding

3. Watchtower Labs added to Emerging Defense database (check it out here!)

Company Launches

1. Terra Industries, building an African defense prime, came out of stealth with an $11.75M Seed round led by 8VC with participation from Valor Equity Partners, SV Angel, Lux Capital, Silent Ventures, Leblon Capital, and Nova Global

Funding Rounds

1. OneBrief closed a $200m Series D at a $2.15B valuation led by Battery Ventures and Sapphire Ventures, joined by Salesforce Ventures, Insight Partners, and General Catalyst.

2. Valinor, building a defense tech holding company, announced a $54M Series A led by Friends and Family Capital with XYZ Venture Capital, Narya, Fifth Down Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and Red Cell Partners all joining

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Watchtower Labs: building AI-native planning and decision applications designed for complex and contested environments. They’ve raised an unannounced funding round backed by Founders Fund and Shield Capital.

   ---

Acquisitions

1. Battle Road Digital, creator of a simulation and modeling engine for wargaming, was acquired by OneBrief. They were founded in 2021 and raised a $5m seed round in 2023.

New VC Funds

1. a16z announced the close of its $1.776B American Dynamism Fund II

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

1. Twenty and Method Security, both cyber focused companies, launched from stealth with a collective $64m in funding

2. Heven (drones), Quantum Systems (German drones), Thermopolaye Aerospace (counter drone), and PDW (more drones!) raise a $345m in new funding as the sector stays hot

3. 2 new companies (Maritime observation and autonomous cargo drones) added to Emerging Defense

Company Launches

1. Twenty:

   1. What they do: Building AI agents and end-to-end systems that accelerate the entire offensive cyber operations lifecycle.

   2. Funding Round: $38m Series A

   3. Backers: Led by Caffeinated Capital and backed by General Catalyst, In-Q-Tel, and Friends and Family Capital

2. Method Security:

   1. What they do: Building the command-and-control layer for autonomous cyber operations, fusing offensive and defensive capabilities into a full-spectrum platform.

   2. Funding Round: $26m Series A

   3. Backers: Led by a16z and General Catalyst. Pax Ventures, Blackstone, Crossbeam Venture Partners, Forward Deployed Venture Capital, and WndrCo also participated.

3. Null Labs: End-to-end Simulation for Defense Autonomy emerged from stealth as part of the fall YC batch

Funding Rounds

1. Heven AeroTech (Israeli/American hydrogen drones): Raised a $100m Series B led by quantum company IonQ with participation from Texas Venture Partners

2. Quantum Systems (German drones): Raised a $208m Series C extension at a $3.5b valuation led by Balderton Capital

3. Thermopylae Aerospace (interceptor drones): Raised a $1.6m pre-seed round, UA1 and Norgard Capital participated.

4. PDW (group 1 and 2 drones): Received a $35m strategic investment from Ondas Holdings

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Orpheus Ocean: Building a deep ocean intelligence service, powered by a constellation of autonomous assets. Raised a $2.8m Pre-Seed in March 2025 led by Propeller Ventures and joined by Village Global, Jetstream, and Climate Capital

2. Anatra: Building autonomous cargo drones

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Quick Hits

1. Galadyne (liquid propulsion missile tech) and Trase (deploying AI) came out of stealth

2. Neros, Forterra, and Chaos Industries announced funding rounds, raising a collective $823m

3. 6 new companies added to Emerging Defense database (counter drone, subsea communication and more!)

4. MVP Ventures, J2 Ventures, and Balnord announced new funds for a collective $445m in capital to be invested

Company Launches

1. Trase: An agentic platform that tactically delivers and implements end-to-end AI agent applications and edge-deployed specialized language models. Incubated by Red Cell Partners, they launched with 10.5m in Pre Seed funding

2. Galadyne: Working on liquid propulsion missile technology. Announced a funding round with a16z, Pax Ventures, and MVP Ventures

3. Dynamo: Building heavy lift quadcopter announced they have secured their initial funding (amount undisclosed)

Funding Rounds

1. Forterra (autonomous systems integrator): Announced a $238 million Series C in equity and debt at a valuation over $1bn. The round was led by Moore Strategic Ventures, joined by new investors including Salesforce Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Balyasny Asset Management, 645 Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management, 9Yards Capital and NightDragon, alongside participation from existing investors XYZ Venture Capital, Hedosophia, and Enlightenment Capital.

2. Chaos Industries (counter drone threat detection): Announced a $510m Series D at a $4.5bn valuation led by Valor Equity Partners and backed by Accel and 8VC.

3. Neros (FPV drones): Raised a $75m Series B led by Sequoia with participation from Vy Capital US and Interlagos.

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Frankenburg Technologies: Developing next-generation interceptor missiles for short-range air defense and counter-UAS. Based in Estonia.

2. Thalassa Robotics: Building intelligent subsea swarms for autonomous and real-time monitoring of undersea assets.

3. Thermopylae Aerospace: Portable, autonomous cUAS solutions, they raised a pre-seed round in October with at least backing from UA1 VC.

4. Praetori: European agentic-AI defense platform built for speed, clarity and operational dominance; replacing slow, fragmented systems with a unified stack.

5. LeVanta Tech: Sea-launched aerial drones

6. Alta Ares: Autonomous guidance systems for low-cost and scalable interceptor drones. Based in Paris, they’ve raised $2m to date.

New VC Funds

1. MVP Ventures raised a $125m Fund II (source)

2. J2 Ventures raised a $250m Fund III, targeting dual use technologies (source)

3. Balnord (early stage Baltic Sea region) announced a new €70m fund, tracking for a final close of €100m (source)

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

1. The Emerging Defense platform has been updated with a new fresh look for the live market map and company sub categorization!

2. Long range autonomous underwater vehicle company Albacore raised $6.5m

3. Valthos (biotech) and Dominion Dynamics (Arctic security) emerged from stealth

4. 5 new companies were added to the Emerging Defense database

5. UA1 is raising a 50m Fund 1

Emerging Defense has a new look!

The Emerging Defense database of defense companies has been updated with a much improved market map and sub categorization of every company along with at-a-glance funding metrics!

Funding Rounds

1. Albacore: Building long-range unmanned underwater vehicles (a thesis we have written about) raised a $6.5m seed round. Albacore was part of YC’s 2025 summer batch. The seed round was led by Outlander VC with another 11 funds participating (Alumni Ventures, R-G.AI, Box Group, Karman Ventures, D3, UA1 VC, Heliad, Brave Capital,468 Capital, Pioneer Fund, RSquared VC)

   ---

Company Launches

1. Valthos: Building AI systems to rapidly characterize biological sequences and compress the time to design medical countermeasures. They raised $30m from Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and OpenAI.

2. Dominion Dynamics: Building an interoperable command layer for the Arctic, they raised a 4m pre-seed round earlier this month.

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Pryzm: Combining a massive pipeline of federal data with an integrated CRM to connect people, information, and workflows across the capture process. They raised a $2m pre seed in August of 2024, backed by XYZ Ventures.

2. Purple Rhombus: Designing and manufacturing fixed-wing UAS built for mass production.

3. Legion (formerly Yurt): Connects systems, data, and workflows where AI agents automate operations with full auditability and human oversight, targeting government customers. They raised a $40m Series B in December of 2024 led by XYZ Ventures.

4. Tycho AI: Building resilient navigation and AI systems for unmanned vehicles. They raised a 10m Series A earlier in October.

5. Volund Manufacturing: Developing and manufacturing gas turbine propulsion systems for Group 1 to Group 3 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

New VC Funds

1. UA1: A Ukraine focused early stage venture found announced they are targeting a $50m Fund I with 18m already committed. They already have 8 publicly announced portfolio companies. (Source: Tectonic)

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Overview

1. Govini joins the defense unicorn crowd, as defense companies raised $255m in the first half of the month

2. 2 new companies added to Emerging Defense, including Ordnance Aero which is already working with Raytheon while still a pre-seed company.

3. Forterra acquired goTenna, further expanding their autonomy stack

Funding Rounds

1. Govini: Building an AI driven tools to modernize how the U.S. government and military manage procurement, logistics, and industrial base analysis. They raised a $150m Series D from Bain Capital at a valuation above $1bn.

2. Havoc AI: Building autonomous surface vehicles in a variety of sizes raised an $85m Series A. B Capital and In-Q-Tel led the round. Lockheed Martin, Hanwha, Taiwania, Vanderbilt University, Up Partners, Island Green Capital, and Zero Infinity Partners participated and early investors Scout Ventures and Outlander Ventures also joined.

3. Hoverfly Technologies: Building tethered small drones, raised a $20m Series B led by Leonardo DRS and new investor Korea Robot Manufacturing (KRM).

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. MyDefense: A Danish company building cUAS systems that use radio frequency to detect and neutralize hostile drones. Solutions range from from wearable, soldier-borne systems to vehicle-mounted and fixed-site systems

2. Ordnance Aero: An LA based company building ordnance delivery systems for Group 1-3 sUAS platforms

Acquisitions

1. Forterra (building ground based autonomy solutions) acquired goTenna as the the evolution of the defense tech market continues

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

1. Balloon dropped munitions are here as Aventra Defense Systems emerges from stealth

2. $211m was raised by 4 companies, $145m of which went to autonomous software

3. 2 new companies added to Emerging Defense tracking

4. European defense VC Expeditions had the first close of a €100m Fund II

Company Launches

1. Aventra Defense Systems: Building balloon dropped munitions kits, came out of stealth with a $3m seed round led by Venrock with participation from angels

Funding Rounds

1. Firehawk Aerospace: Building solid rocket motors and hybrid rocket engines, has closed a $60m Series C at a $290m valuation led by 1789 Capital with participation from new investor Presto Tech Horizons and joined by existing investors Decisive Point, Stellar Ventures and Draper Associates

2. Auterion: Building autonomous system software for defense, raised a $130m Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Existing investors Lakestar, Mosaic Ventures, and Costanoa Ventures also participated.

3. Perseus Defense: Building an affordable counter drone solution for small drones, raised a $6m seed round joined by Y Combinator, Bow Capital, Alumni Ventures, the Rebel Fund, and more.

4. Swarmer: A Ukrainian founded company building autonomy software for drones, raised a $15m Series A led by Broadband Capital Investments. R-G.AI, D3 Ventures, Green Flag Ventures, Radius Capital, Network VC, and UA1 VC also participated.

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Delta Black: Building Group 3 VTOL drones with 100lb payload and a range of 1600+ nautical miles

2. STARK: A multiple product European defense company with maritime, drone, and software products

VC Funds

1. Expeditions has closed a €100m Fund II and is tracking towards a complete €150m full close

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Overview

1. UK based missile defense startup Cambridge Aerospace comes out of stealth with $100m in funding

2. 2 new companies added to the Emerging Defense database

3. $200m was raised by 5 companies (excluding Cambridge Aerospace) over the past week(ish)

View all defense tech data on the Emerging Defense website!

Company Launches

1. Cambridge Aerospace: Building missile interceptors for large drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. They raised a $100m Series A at a $400m valuation and are backed by Lux Capital, Accel, D3, Lakestar, and Spark Capital

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Offset Labs: Building software that develops and deploys specialized artificial intelligence models for signal and voice processing in operational environments. They have raised a $700k pre-seed round led by Archangel Ventures, with participation from Amadeus Capital Partners and Seven Capital

2. Oberon Systems: Building adaptive camouflage

Funding Rounds

1. Shift5: Building the operational America’s defense and transportation systems, raised a $75M Series C , led by Hedosophia with participation from Insight Partners, Center 15 Capital, 645 Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, Squadra Ventures, AE Industrial, Disruptive, CSP Equity Partners, and Savano Capital Partners

2. Vector: A modern-warfare capability provider, closed a $61m Series A. The round was led by Pelion Venture Partners with Harpoon Ventures, Point72, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Run Ventures, Dauntless Ventures, GSB Backers, Alumni Ventures, Kickstart Fund, Shield Capital, R7, and Cambria Group participating.

3. Aurelius Systems: Building a directed energy counter drone solution, raised a $10m Series A co-led by General Catalyst and Draper Associates

4. Tiberius: Building an AI powered development and marketplace solution for defense, raised a $4.5M founders’ round. Never Lift Ventures, Blacklake, firedrop VC, Beaten Zone Ventures, and other strategic investors participated.

5. Blue Water Autonomy: Building large autonomous ships raised a $50M Series A led by Google Ventures with participation from existing investors Eclipse, Riot, and Impatient Ventures

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

1. An analysis of defense tech round graduation timelines, comparing 13 companies valued at 500m+ to other defense tech companies

2. Grid Aero, building autonomous cargo drones, came out of stealth with $6m in funding

3. 4 new companies added to Emerging Defense

4. Veteran Venture Capital closed a 60m Fund II

Defense Tech Round Graduation Timelines

Key takeaway: Currently, there are 13 defense tech companies that have achieved a valuation of $500m+. It took the successes longer to get started, partly due to 10 out of 13 being founded prior to defense funding picking up starting in 2022. Once they hit Series A, they went out and raised a Series B ~5 months more quickly and a Series C 10 months more quickly.

These can be used to benchmark what the typical fund raising journey of a successful defense tech company looks like for the backlog of ~65 Defense Tech companies that have raised only up to a Series A (full list can be found here).

Company Launches

1. Grid Aero: Building autonomous cargo drones raised a $6m seed round led by Calibrate Ventures and Ubiquity Ventures.

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense

1. Paratus: Building work management software

2. Sentradel: Building turret based counter drone systems

3. Delian Alliance Industries: Autonomous anti-access/area denial systems

4. Orcrist: Building man portable counter drone systems

New Funds

1. Veteran Ventures Capital closed a $60m Fund II

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Overview

1. Flux Photonics came out of stealth with a 4m seed round

2. Bravo Ordnance raised a $3m pre-seed round to design and manufacture custom warheads and explosives

3. Point 72 is raising a $400m defense tech fund and Forward Deployed VC closed a $45m Fund II

All Defense Tech data can be found on the Emerging Defense website!

Company Launches + New Additions

1. Flux Photonics, connecting the battlefield using lasers, came out of stealth with a $4m seed round led by Coalition Ventures (Tom Hennessey) and also backed by Crosspoint Capital, Sequoia (Sean Maguire), Stanford, and Friends and Family Capital

2. Prandtl Dynamics Inc: building an ultra sonic counter UAS system

3. Atropos Group: Stealth autonomous systems

Last Weeks Funding Rounds

1. Bravo Ordnance: Designing and building custom warheads and explosives, raised a $3m pre-seed round led by Outlander with participation from 640 Oxford, The Veteran Fund, Pathbreaker Ventures, Plug and Play Tech Center, and UA1 VC

New Funds

1. Forward Deployed VC (Mark Scianna) raised a $45m fund II

2. Point72 Ventures is raising $400m for a defense focused

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Overview

1. Chariot Defense came out of stealth to provide power to all the new power hungry defense tech systems

2. 3 more companies added to Emerging Defense (Regent, Perseus Defense, Pyrrhus Aeronautics)

3. Firestorm Labs nabs $47m in a Series A to fund its drone + edge manufacturing platform

4. Government contracting software remains hot with Vultron’s $17m Series A

5. New North Ventures closed the first $45m of their Fund II

All Defense Tech data can be found on the Emerging Defense website.

New Companies + Launches

1. Chariot Defense: Building physical and digital power architecture, came out of stealth with an $8m seed round led by General Catalyst and XYZ Ventures with backing from Cubit Capital, Forward Deployed VC, Ravelin Capital, New Vista Capital, Brave Capital, and D3 VC and Pax Ventures

2. Regent: Building sea gliders with 1,400 nautical mile range, announced their expansion for DoD customers at Reindustrialize

3. Perseus Defense: A YC Summer 2025 company, they are building micro missiles for cUAS purposes.

4. Pyrrhus Aeronautics: Building micro drones

5. Swarmer: AI Based Mission Control for coordinated drones

Last Weeks Funding Rounds

1. Firestorm Labs: Building drones and expeditionary manufacturing cells to supposed them, raised a $47m Series A. $35m equity and $12m of venture debt, the round was led by NEA with Decisive Point, Washington Harbour Partners, and Booze Allen Ventures also participating.

2. Vultron: Building an AI-Native Operating System designed to help federal contractors accelerate and scale proposal development. They raised a $17m Series A led by Greycroft with continued backing by Craft Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, South Park Commons, and Conviction Capital.

3. Droneforge: Building deployment of autonomy on any drone, raised a $2.5m pre-seed led by Outlander with participation from First In Capital, Tofino Capital, and Shor Capital

4. Overwatch Imaging: Building airborne imaging solutions, raised $6m in new funding led by Squadra Ventures with participation from SEMCAP AI, Elevate Oregon, and Edo Capital. Overwatch had previously raised an $11.2m Series A in April of 2022.

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New Funds Closed

1. New North Ventures announced the first close of its second fund with $45m committed, partnering with the SBA through the SBICCT initiative

Thanks for reading!

— Emerging Defense Team (Scripps)

Overview

1. Defense tech shows no sign of slowing down. both number of funding rounds and total dollars raised are already more than all of last year.

2. The maritime and counter drone sectors have raised almost $1bn this year

3. Some interesting new companies were added to the Emerging Defense database (hello subterranean warfare!)

4. ~$10m in funding happened over the past 2 weeks for counter drone and a go to market companies

5. A sneak peak into the future of the Emerging Defense platform!

All Defense Tech data can be found on the Emerging Defense website.

First Half of 2025 Defense Tech Funding in 4 Charts

Takeaway: Maritime and counter drone are booming. 11 rounds between those 2 sectors accounted for almost $1bn, most of which was by Saronic.

Takeaway: Interest has remained strong, even in early stage, with 30 pre series B funding rounds just this year so far.

Takeaway: Last year’s strong funding market, causing concerns of a bubble, is not slowing down. 46 funding rounds happened this half of the year, already surpassing all of last year’s combined.

Takeaway: Even if you remove Anduril (which has raised a round almost every single year since 2017) defense tech is on pass to 4x last year’s total non Anduril funding.

New Companies Added to Emerging Defense Database

1. Traysar: Building subterranean defense platforms (personally particularly interesting as it follows a thesis I wrote about 1.5 years ago)

2. Tiberius Aerospace: Building longer range 155m artillery shell design.

3. Icarus: Stratospheric gliders

4. Aventra: Designs and manufactures high altitude effectors.

5. Askari Defense: Counter Drone autonomous micro-strike capabilities

6. ARX Robotics: Autonomous ground mobile robotics and a comprehensive digitalization platform for modernizing legacy fleets. They previously raised a $31m Series A led by HV capital with support from Omnes Capital, the NATO Innovation Fund, and Project A

7. F-ADA: Bringing Hardware systems to life by leveraging embodied machine learning and computer vision

Last Weeks(ish) Funding Rounds

A little bit of catch up due the 4th of July holiday!

1. Obviant: a data intelligence platform to simplify defense acquisition & GTM, raised a $7.1m seed round led by Shield Capital with participation from Motivate Venture Capital, A*, New Vista Capital, and Underdog Labs

2. Nordic Air Defense: Building a mobile counter drone system, raised a $3m pre-seed led by Inflection.

A Sneak Peak!

The team at Emerging Defense (me, myself and I) have been hard at work. Our goal is to expand the platform to create a place where curated early stage defense tech founders can meet investors and vice versa. A one stop shop for who to reach out to.

Overview

This past week was one of the biggest in the defense tech space this year so far with $730m raised by 4 companies collectively valued at over $13.6b.

Additionally, 5 more early stage defense tech companies were added to the database. 3 counter drone companies, 1 drone company, and 1 maritime company.

All Defense Tech data can be found on the Emerging Defense website.

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New Companies Added to Emerging Defense Database

1. 9 Mothers: Cost effective C-UAS. AI detection, tracking and defensive systems

2. Auron Solutions: EW counter drone systems

3. Thor Dynamics: Directed energy counter drone defense, raised an $8.3m Seed Round in May 2025 led by Scout Ventures and Lifeline Ventures.

4. Fulcrum Autonomy: Small ISR drones, has raised $1m to date backed by Silent Ventures and BVVC

5. Kraken Technologies Group: High-performance dual-use composite littoral platforms for defense and commercial application in the maritime industry.

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Last Weeks Funding Rounds

1. Mach Industries: Building a variety of autonomous aerial platforms, raised a $100m Series B at a $470m valuation led by new investor Kholsa Ventures and Bedrock Capital with participation from Sequoia.

2. Helsing: A multi product European defense company, raised a $600m Series D at a $12b valuation led by Daniel Ek’s Prima Materia along with participation from Accel, Plural, Lightspeed, SAAB, General Catalyst, and BDT & MSD Partners.

3. OneBrief: Building software for military workflows, completed a $20m extension to their series C round led by Battery Ventures, doubling their valuation to $1.1b from a few months ago.

4. AndrenaM: Building a maritime sensor network, raised a $10m Seed round led by First Round Capital with participation from Also Capital, 201 Ventures, Banter Capital, Homebrew, Long Journey Ventures, Mines Ventures, and Wave Function Ventures

All Defense Tech data can be found on the Emerging Defense website.

Top Defense Tech Investors in 2025

It was a slow news week for defense tech, no public rounds were announced. As we’re nearing the halfway point of the year, let’s take a look at the most active defense tech investors in 2025 so far.

a16z (8 investments)

Investments: Rune Technologies, Castelion, Shield AI, Saronic, CX2, Mara, Exia Labs, Schemata

8VC (5 investments)

Investments: Overland AI, Gallatin, Saronic, CX2, Epirus

Discipulus Ventures (5 investments)

Investments: Flamefront Propulsion, 1AU Technologies, Venom Industries, Basic Defense, Vanguard Defense

BVVC (4 investments)

Investments: Usul, Union, X-Bow Systems, Scout AI

Y Combinator (4 investments)

Investments: Splash, Theseus, Usul, Deepnight

P72 Ventures (3 investments)

Investments: Rune Technologies, Overland AI, CX2

StepStone Group (3 investments)

Investments: Epirus, TurbineOne, Chaos Industries

Silent Ventures (3 investments)

Investments: Union, Sandtable, Gallatin

Washington Harbour Partners (3 investments)

Investments: Epirus, Shield AI, Hidden Level

Thanks for reading!