We’re not saying crazy cash is flying around the defense tech world because of our summit, but we’re not not saying it. Yesterday, “domain dominance” defense startup and 8VC darling CHAOS Industries announced that it’s raised $510M in new funding at a $4.5B valuation, led by Valor Equity Partners (friends of Mr. Musk and early […]
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 […]
Whoever thought the defense tech investment hype cycle was coming to an end, think again. Late last week, California-based VC fund MVP Ventures announced that it’s raised a $125M Fund II, nearly quadrupling its $35M Fund I. MVP Managing Partner Weston Moyer told Tectonic that about 12-15 percent of that will go to defense tech—six […]
Well, that Hegseth speech wasn’t the only good piece of defense tech news to come out at the tail end of last week. On Friday afternoon, Reuters reported that the US Army plans to buy at least a million drones in the next two to three years, and that they plan to buy 500K a […]
In case you missed it with, well, everything else that’s been going on, it’s been a pretty busy week in South Korea. On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung committed to increasing defense spending next year to 66.3T won ($46B). Then, Hegseth popped by on a two-day visit to meet with his counterpart, Defense […]
Looks like Shield AI is getting serious about the whole CCA thing. Yesterday, the company announced that it’s teaming up with jet engine megalith GE Aerospace ($GE) to power its newly announced little drone fighter, X-BAT. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding stating that “the F110-GE-129 engine, featuring the advanced Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust […]
If you’ve learned one thing from this newsletter, we hope it’s that everyone and their mom wants to find a cheaper, better, faster way to shoot drones out of the sky. Some shoot them with mini-missiles, others hit them with jammers, and others still send counter-drones to pick them out of the sky. But that […]
Remember that Firehawk winning streak we covered last month? Well, turns out the energetics startup wasn’t quite finished. Yesterday, the company announced—just two months after closing a $60M funding—that it’s received an additional “eight-figure” strategic investment from Hanwha Defense USA, according to a company spokesperson. Firehawk CEO Will Edwards told Tectonic that the partnership will […]
For everyone who thought we were done with the tiny plane mania for a while, think again. Anduril is back, baby. On Friday afternoon, the defense tech megalith announced that its YFQ-44A prototype for the collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) program has officially notched its first flight in California. “Anduril and the U.S. Air Force began […]
Well, looks like the sailboat drones are getting a major, deadly upgrade. Yesterday, USV company Saildrone announced that it’s secured a $50M investment from Lockheed Martin and that it will build a whole bunch of the prime’s weapons onto its boats. Saildrone CEO Rich Jenkins also told Tectonic that the two companies will work together […]
