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Investment

Exclusive: Heaviside Emerges from Stealth with $28M Series A

Well, folks, we’re starting the week off with a bang. (Forgive us.) This morning, munitions startup Heaviside came out of stealth with a $28M Series A in an exclusive release to Tectonic. The round was led by Interlagos Capital with participation from Menlo Ventures, Flume Ventures, Cantos Ventures, Anorak Ventures, Frank Finelli (senior advisor and […]

PentagonTech

USSOCOM Taps SkyFi for Geospatial Imagery at the Edge

Up until recently, satellite imagery was the domain of well-funded intelligence services and militaries. These days, a range of commercial actors are filling OSINT social media feeds and reporting with near-real-time updates from their eyes in the skies over Ukraine, Iran, the South China Sea, and wherever else the US government is keeping tabs on.  […]

PentagonTech

US Army Kicks Off “Right to Integrate” Hackathon

So, the fun thing about defense tech is that no matter how shiny, or fast, or go-boom it is, it doesn’t mean a whole lot if it doesn’t work hand in hand with everything else on the battlefield. Luckily, at least one service seems to be tackling the whole “make sure this stuff works when […]

PentagonTech

Scale AI CDAO Contract Upgraded to $500M

Well, if anyone thought the software hype era was over, think again. In case you missed it, on Wednesday, the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) increased its enterprise agreement with AI integration and training giant Scale AI from $100M to $500M, supporting “the Department’s strategic imperative to accelerate the adoption of data, […]

EuropeInvestment

Swedish TNT Startup SWEBAL Raises €30M

Defense tech isn’t all drone swarms and software. Sometimes the basic, unsexy stuff is the most important, especially when you live on the doorstep of Europe’s largest land war since WWII. Yesterday, SWEBAL, a Swedish startup founded by a fintech entrepreneur (totally normal career path), announced that it raised €30M to change the way Europe […]

Investment

Darkhive Secures $30M in Series B Funding

Another day, another defense tech funding round. Yesterday, Darkhive announced that it’s raised $30M in a Series B funding round led by RTX Ventures to deliver on the $49.7M APFIT contract—the program’s highest single award to date—that the San Antonio-based startup won in December and went public with in March.   Hive hype: Founded in 2021, […]

Tech

Exclusive: The Army Turns Petrel’s Group 3 Drone Into an FPV Mothership

The Army, to put it simply, is pretty into its drones these days. They’re so into drones that they’re even testing out big drones that launch small ones. During recent live-fire exercises down at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Fort Polk, Louisiana, the Army’s 101st Airborne Division turned Petrel Technologies’ Group 3 UAS, […]

Pentagon

BlackSea Scores $256M Navy Contract for SPDS

Turns out that drone boats can do a lot more than just zip about and terrorize Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, y’all. Yesterday, USV company BlackSea Technology announced that it’s been awarded a $256M Navy contract to “build and support the Seabased Petroleum Distribution System (SPDS) program.” For those of you not steeped in specific Navy […]

Pentagon

Exclusive: Firestorm Snags $30M APFIT Contract

You know what they say: When it rains, it pours. And it turns out that holds true whether it’s a thunderstorm or a Firestorm. (Bada-bing!) Fresh off an $82M Series B last week, the 3D-printed drone and mobile manufacturing hotshot announced in an exclusive release to Tectonic this morning that it has secured a $30M […]

Investment

Anello Photonics Raises $25M to Scale

Strap in, folks. It’s time to get into the nuts and bolts.  On Monday, CA-based silicon photonic optical gyroscope (we’ll get to that) company Anello Photonics announced that it’s raised a cool $25M Series B-2 round led by MESH. New investor Washington Harbour Partners also joined the round, along with existing investors Lockheed Martin Ventures, […]