Between the rollercoaster Ukraine mineral deal and the Pentagon’s $400M investment in MP Materials, rare earth minerals have been all the rage in 2025. And yesterday, they got even more hyped when North Carolina-based rare earth magnet processing startup Vulcan Elements announced a $65M Series A led by Altimeter, bringing total funding to $75M. The […]
Tiny planes are truly having their moment. On Thursday, VTOL giant Archer Aviation went on a shopping spree—snapping up a manufacturing facility and assets, plus another VTOL maker’s patent portfolio—to speed development of its next-gen defense aircraft. Tiny plane, big impact: In case you don’t know, Archer was founded in California in 2018 by Adam […]
Institutional investors are going batshit crazy for defense. Yesterday, five major financial institutions, including ING and JPMorgan Chase, announced that they’re backing the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, a new not-for-profit bank that will help NATO countries and allies finance defense needs. Backed by these finance heavy-hitters, DSRB will issue AAA-rated bonds for countries to […]
Another day, another money move. This week, defense and security-focused Forward Deployed Venture Capital announced that they have raised a $45M Fund II, backed by 150 LPs from companies including Palantir, Anduril, and SpaceX. FDVC General Partner Mark Scianna—who worked at Palantir for 11 years himself—told Tectonic that they’ll use the new pile of cash […]
We told you everyone loves a tiny little plane. On Friday, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft giant Joby Aviation ($JOBY) announced that it’s teaming up with everyone’s favorite defense contractor, L3Harris Technologies ($LHX). The two companies say they will work together to develop a “new aircraft class for defense applications.” “We have worked closely […]
The defense tech dollars keep on coming. Late last week, Bloomberg reported that the venture arm of Point72 Asset Management—Steve Cohen’s $40B hedge fund—is raising $400M for a defense tech-focused “Deterrence” fund. The fund, which includes $100M from Cohen himself, is expected to close early next year. Defense tech may be having a moment, but […]
Everyone loves a tiny little plane. Yesterday, Israeli eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) startup AIR announced a $23 million Series A, led by Entrée Capital with participation from Dr. Shmuel Harlap. The company says it will use the funding to ramp up production and expand its U.S. operations—especially given how keen the Trump administration […]
And now for the big reveal: On Tuesday, defense mapping startup Reveal Technology announced a $30M Series B led by Ballistic Ventures with participation from Booz Allen Ventures, Shield Capital, and others. That’s a big—and speedy-quick—jump from its $11.2M Series A last December. Founded in 2018, Reveal grew out of its co-founders’ firsthand combat experience […]
What a time to be a prime. In the past few weeks, we’ve finally gotten a look at Q2 results from some of defense’s biggest players—Northrop Grumman, Raytheon (RTX), Lockheed Martin, and L3Harris, among them—and the results have been mixed, to say the least. Amidst tariffs and record-high geopolitical tensions, and in the face of […]
The big money moves just keep on coming. This morning, edge computing company Armada announced a $131M strategic funding round, which it will use to build a new “megawatt-scale” modular data center called Leviathan. New investors Pinegrove, Veriten, and Glade Brook joined the round, alongside returning backers Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Shield Capital, 8090 Industries, […]
