Latest Stories
Lakestar Raises $300M Resilience Fund I
We knew about the magical, never-empty American defense tech funding tap, but it turns out Europe has one too. This morning, European deep tech VC heavyweight Lakestar announced that it’s raised a $300M Resilience Fund I—dedicated specifically to defense and dual-use in Europe and across NATO-allied countries. “The dedicated Resilience I fund gives us the […]
Greenjets Raises $40M Series A
If this is the week before Farnborough, we can’t possibly imagine what next week is going to be like. This morning, UK-based (and fairly sneaky) aerospace tech company Greenjets announced that it’s raised a $40M Series A led by Blossom Capital with participation from the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment […]
Neros Lands Army Contract Worth Up to $500M
The FPV phenoms at Neros are on a heater. This week, the California-based drone startup snagged a five-year, $500M-ceiling US Army contract for its Archer FPV drones under the Purpose-Built Attritable System (PBAS) program. Neros’ Head of Growth, Ross Pedersen, told Tectonic that the Army has already placed orders for thousands of the drones against […]
Saronic Picks Brownsville, TX for Port Alpha
Well, guys, the moment you’ve all been waiting for (or, at least, that some of you have been waiting for) has finally arrived. This morning, autonomous surface vessel (ASV) hotshot (and newly-minted member of Iran’s shit list) Saronic announced that it’s officially picked Brownsville, TX, as the site for its futuristic shipyard, Port Alpha. Saronic […]
A Q + A with Matt Cronin, Senior National Security Advisor at a16z
If there is one VC fund you know in the defense tech world, it’s probably Andreesen Horowitz—or a16z, as the cool kids say. The firm—which just raised a casual $15B, including $1.176B for its “national interest” (defense and deep tech) focused American Dynamism fund—has backed some of the biggest names in the game, including Anduril, […]
Q + A: A.J. Bertone, Managing Partner, In-Q-Tel
If you’ve been paying attention to the past year of Tectonic (!!), you’ll recognize a sneaky three-letter acronym that pops up on a lot of defense tech cap tables: IQT. For those lucky enough not to be in the know, that stands for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture fund backed by the US government and investing […]
A Q+A with Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper
Mark Esper has spent a whole heck of a lot of time in the defense ecosystem. After a decade in uniform in the US Army, he worked as a congressional staffer, a senior policy aide to Sens. Chuck Hagel and Bill Frist, and a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the early 2000s. Then, he […]
A Q+A with Alex Ferrara, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners
If there is one fund that knows how to deploy big-time cash into tech companies, it’s Bessemer Venture Partners. The Silicon Valley fund has about $19B under management, and has invested in tech giants from LinkedIn (everyone’s fav) to Shopify. This year, the fund has turned to defense—specifically, European defense. They led Auterion’s $130M Series […]
