Guess what, guys? The defense tech dudes are forming new cliques.
This morning, AI-for-defense powerhouse Raft announced that it’s launched a “partner program [that’s] designed to help industry partners rapidly build, integrate, and deploy mission-ready applications on top” of Raft’s data and AI programs.
The idea is that because Raft is already plugged into the Pentagon and the government (they’ve been awarded about $268.5M in contracts, according to Obviant data), teaming up with them will allow partners to speed up adoption by the DoD.
“This program gives industry a fast lane and time back to the mission, Raft founder and CEO Shubhi Mishra said in a statement. “Partners can integrate across the Raft ecosystem and scale their capabilities everywhere the US fights.”
The first partners to join the program are Red Hat, Rune Technologies, Scale AI, and Lockheed Martin. A Raft spokesperson declined to comment on the financial setup of the whole shebang—but did say it would help companies scale, and fast.
“Raft’s products are being proliferated across the highest priority modernization efforts in the DoW (like Army NGC2 and others), and if companies want their IP to play a role in these marquee efforts and be a part of the inevitability of Raft growing across the DoW and IC, they want to be a part of the program,” they told Tectonic.
Race to integrate: First, a bit about Raft.
- The company was founded in McLean, VA, back in 2018 and—put simply—set out to build AI/ML applications strictly for defense and national security.
- The team raised $60M from Washington Harbor Partners in 2024, and has scored contracts with everyone from the Air Force, to SOCOM, to CYBERCOM—more than 25 agencies across the DoD, according to the company.
If you’re a regular Tectonic reader, you might also remember that Raft is part of Lockheed Martin’s NGC2 prototype competition team. Other team members include Rune Technologies (funny, that) and Hypergiant.
The company builds a bunch of different AI and ML solutions, but for our purposes, companies in the partner ecosystem will be building on top of:
- The Raft Data Platform (RDP): A data integration and processing platform built for the DoD.
- The Raft AI Mission System (RAIMS): A mission control platform built on top of RDP.
Strike a balance: If you’re sitting there like, wait, how is this actually going to work? Is Raft just going to gobble up these companies’ IP? Don’t worry—we were too.
“Raft and partners will be collaborating on integrations across both sets of IP, while each party, of course, [retains] full ownership of their respective IP,” the spokesperson told us. “We are looking for thoughtful intersections and collaborations to drive pre-integrated IP that solves mission problems no other ecosystem will be able to offer to the government.”
This first cohort is all partners that Raft has worked with before, and the spokesperson said, “They are building components of the tech stack, whether applications or otherwise, on top of the RDP + RAIMS infrastructure that accelerates positive mission impact.”
Join up: So, how does one become a part of this ecosystem? “Participants are selected based on a mutual belief between Raft and a potential partner that the combination of the two companies and their collective IP could solve the most important data and AI priorities – and where partnering will accelerate speed to market and impact,” the spokesperson said.
They added that they’re looking to accept everyone from defense tech startups to primes, as well as commercial companies with applications relevant to the DoD. “We expect anyone who is focused on delivering modular, interoperable, high-impact mission software solutions to the most important efforts across the DoW and IC to want to join the ecosystem.”
And why work with Raft and not, say, another company that may or may not start with a P? “Raft is particularly focused on building an open, modular, and partner-led ecosystem, vs. building walled gardens like that of their ‘competitors,’” the spokesperson said. “Raft is … building a group of modular, interoperable, and pre-integrated solutions at the speed of mission need.”