What if we told you that there was a network of top former national security officials, SOCOM veterans, and Silicon Valley operators that has been operating in the shadows since 2021, quietly funding some of the biggest startups in the defense tech scene? And what if we told you that they’re not looking to cash out, but rather that they’re a volunteer-led nonprofit, with all future carry flowing into a foundation that supports the next generation of veteran entrepreneurs?
You’d tell us we were crazy, right?
Well, we’re not. On Wednesday, nonprofit “VC” MVA Foundation (MilVetAngels) emerged from stealth, revealing that they’ve backed Anduril, Hermeus, Ursa Major, Aetherflux, and Shield AI so far. Not a bad starting hand, if we do say so ourselves.
Finance the foundation: You might be sitting there thinking—wait, what’s the catch? Well, let’s break it down.
Here’s how a nonprofit defense tech VC firm like MVA works:
- MVA forms a special purpose vehicle (SPV) composed of capital from limited partners (LPs) within the highly vetted MVA community to participate in funding rounds. First checks range from $500K to $5M and are unique to each investment.
- MVA members contribute technical diligence, operator insight, and introductions as companies scale. They invest alongside other VCs, but waive management fees for veterans or public-service alumni.
- All carried interest (profits) from SPV exits flow to the MVA nonprofit, which funds veteran transition and entrepreneurship programs.
Some MVA members are also VCs—including at Brave Capital and Meritech—so if a member’s venture firm is investing in a defense deal, they’ll also bring it along to the MVA community to co-invest. Bit of a symbiotic relationship-type thing.
Origin story: The idea for MVA, as co-founder and Brave Capital founder Ernestine Fu Mak told Tectonic, came to her in 2021 when she was on the “Great American Road Trip” across the country and “got a call from Anduril that they were raising their [Series D].” She invested in the round alongside other VCs, including Brave, but decided to bring a “community of special ops veterans, NASA astronauts, other public service leaders” in as well.
“MVA didn’t have a name at the time,” she said, “but the mission and vision were very clear.”
That mission is one reason they stayed in stealth for so long. “Rather than going out and announcing we were doing this, we’ve focused on assembling our initial portfolio and community. That’s more of our mindset—get the work done first before we come out of stealth,” she added.
Dream team: MVA’s all-volunteer team has brought on some heavy hitters. Along with more than a handful of SEALs, generals, and corporate execs, its leadership team includes:
- Bill Crowell, former Deputy Director of the NSA.
- Sue Gordon, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.
- James “Hondo” Geurts, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition.
- Paul Madera, Air Force veteran and co-founder of Meritech Capital Partners.
- Jameson Darby, MVA co-founder and one of the OG founders of the DIU.
The goal of this cabal of altruistic operator-investors is to “bring together distinguished veterans and senior civil servants who understand the realities of modern conflict with the engineers and technologists who have the deep, technical backgrounds to build these critical technologies,” Mak said. “All of these groups together form what we call the ‘new guard.’”
New guard: It’s safe to say that the non-profit is really at defense tech’s cutting edge. “These are companies that are tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time,” she added. “If you look at our initial portfolio—from autonomy with Anduril and Shield AI to hypersonics and propulsion like Hermeus and Ursa Major—these are exactly the areas that the Pentagon has also identified as mission critical for national security.”
Given how stacked their leadership team and portfolio are so far, some future big-name exits could fund the next wave of veteran founders. Anyone have the inside word on that Anduril IPO?