Looks like no one’s found the shut-off valve on the defense tech funding tap yet.
This morning, in an exclusive release to Tectonic, DC-based VC New Vista Capital announced that it’s officially raising a $60M Fund I that it will deploy into early-stage aerospace and defense startups.
In a world where everyone and their mom wants to invest in defense tech, New Vista’s team says that what sets them apart is their expertise. They’ve brought together experts who they say can teach their portfolio companies how to work with that notoriously hard-to-please customer—the US government.
“I think the team that we’ve assembled, more than 30 advisors and participants, is unparalleled in our industry,” New Vista Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO Dennis Muilenburg told Tectonic. “Nobody else can bring the kind of technical depth, operational knowledge, and financial and investment acumen that we can as a combined entity. That’s truly differentiated in the marketplace.”
The fund says it will focus on pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds, and that when everything’s up and running, checks will run from about $1M to $3M. They’ve already made 11 investments (in eight companies) out of the fund, and deployed about “25% of the money they’ve raised to date,” according to Co-Founder and Managing Partner Kirsten Bartok Touw.
In the 202: New Vista is an inside-the-beltway VC if there ever was one.
The fund was founded back in 2020 by Bartok Touw, Muilenburg, and Gen. Stephen “Seve” Wilson and set out a seemingly straightforward thesis—they wanted to use their collective investment and defense expertise to help companies build the tech that the DoD and other government agencies actually need.
- Bartok Touw had a long career in finance and aerospace—she was the co-founder and Managing Partner of AirFinance, ran strategy and corporate development at Hawker Beechcraft, and was the co-founder and CFO of XOJET. She also worked at JPMorgan in San Francisco and is an advisor to the OSC and SVDG.
- Muilenburg is a defense giant—he was the president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board at Boeing, and led the company’s corporate venture effort.
- Wilson is a retired 4-star U.S. Air Force General and served as the 39th Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Not a bad starting lineup. Plus, the fund’s dozens of advisors (they’ve got six full-time staff and about 24 part-time advisors) are similarly plugged in everywhere from the Pentagon to defense tech startups, to institutional finance.
“They’re involved in the sausage making,” Bartok Touw said. “They’re involved in all parts of the process. That is more rewarding for them than just being called and said, ‘Hey, could you look at this deal and give me your feedback?’”
In da club: So far, New Vista has backed some names you’ll definitely recognize if you read Tectonic (we see you), including:
- Hypersonic missile company Castelion
- New-age manufacturing rollup Amca
- Power-for-defense startup Chariot Defense
- UAV company Swarm Aero
- Electric hydrofoil company REGENT
For the rest of the fund, the team is looking at things that are “really urgent needs” for the Pentagon, Bartok Touw and Muilenburg said. That includes:
- Space-based capabilities, including—critically—good satellites.
- Hypersonics and other Golden Dome tech.
- AI across the board, especially stuff that can “amplify sectors of interest to the Pentagon,” including advanced training, manufacturing, and quicker capability fielding.
And, while the main focus of the fund will remain in the US, they’re also looking at international companies—they’ve got an overseas deal that’s about to close, and Bartok Touw said that ultimately she expects about 15 percent of portfolio companies to come from abroad. Not only will this help NATO allies build out capabilities, but can help international companies make their way in the US.
“It is extremely difficult to be an international company that comes to the US,” she said. “Obviously, that is one of our capabilities, to be able to help them set up domestically.”
Cash money: While New Vista wouldn’t tell us exactly how much of the $60M they’ve already raised, Bartok Touw said they’ve raised a “good portion” of the fund from “predominantly industry executives, generals and a few high net worth [individuals] and smaller family offices.”
She added that they’re looking to expand that LP base as they close out the rest of Fund I.