Index of 62 Weapons Startups
This document is not exhaustive. Since the last update of this document there have been additional funds raised by these weapons startups, new contracts, as well as new weapons companies founded. This document is intended to provide an incomplete, yet illustrative view of the lethal weapons boom from venture capitalists.
Founded 2023, unknown funding raised from Silent Ventures, Soma Capital.
Swarmbiotics AI is creating ground swarm robotics – Attritable, Networked Tactical Swarms (A.N.T.S). These systems are designed to work in surveillance, targeting, electromagnetic warfare, casualty evacuation, and military deception operations.
Founded 2023, $1.98 million raised from Decisive Point, Blue Collective.
VATN builds military autonomous underwater vehicle swarms which synchronise and thus make possible new types of battlefield operations. The swarms do not require a human operator. They are currently developing new sensor and data fusion techniques, and the swarm platform can be adapted to support a variety of military hardware.
Founded 2023, unknown funding raised from Silent Ventures.
Aeon Industries is “developing advanced capabilities at scale for maximum overmatch and deterrence.” There is little information on its website besides a futuristic photo of a missile.
Founded 2022, $19.6 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz.
Castelion builds long-range strike hypersonic weapons, focusing on rapid development and testing and integration with existing war planes. It recently emerged from stealth mode.
Founded 2022, unknown funds raised from Andreessen Horowitz.
ZeroMark creates auto-targeting control fire systems “at the intersection of AI/ML, Robotics, and Weaponry in the Service of National Defense,” “enabling military professionals to use weapons with efficacy.” The startup is in stealth mode and little additional information is available.
Founded 2022, $84.7 million raised from Sequoia, Bedrock, Marque Ventures.
Little information is available on Mach Industries, which remains in stealth. According to reporting, Mach is “developing a suite of hydrogen-powered platforms and munitions for the military, including unmanned aerial vehicles and hydrogen generation systems.”
Founded 2022, unknown funds raised from Countdown Capital, Susa Ventures.
Swarm is currently in stealth mode. They are “building the largest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm”, powered by artificial intelligence. From an essay by its founder, “think thousands of small weapons-carrying aircraft swarming the sky and hundreds of submersibles churning the depth of the sea, all of them equipped with sensors that provide a holistic picture of the battlefield.”
Founded 2022, unknown funds raised from Decisive Point, The Veteran Fund.
Firestorm builds military unmanned aerial systems. Its current product is a flying warcraft that carries a payload (weapon) of up to 10 pounds, with flexible integration to allow operators to switch out payloads. A major focus is the factory manufacturing capabilities, using automation, robotics and additive manufacturing; their distributed manufacturing model requires limited human intervention and is designed to work off the grid to produce unmanned warcraft at scale.
Founded 2022, $70 million raised from 8VC, Silent Ventures, Valar Ventures.
Chaos is in stealth mode and little is known about it. From reporting on the Series A: “multiple products in development, including COHERENCE, a sensor, detection and radar solution.” They claim to already have “deep partnerships with defense and industry.”
Founded 2022, $70 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, Lightspeed Ventures.
Saronic makes military autonomous surface vessels for naval and maritime forces. It identifies and tracks targets using sensors and artificial intelligence, can be orchestrated as a swarm, and integrates with a variety of weapons systems, including loitering munitions. Its vessels are “produced at scale for mass deployment.” They have 6 foot and 13 foot vessels.
Founded 2022, stealth mode, unknown seed funding from Marque Ventures.
Rangeview is an aerospace manufacturing startup, leveraging 3D printing technology and robotics. Little other information is available. Their website features a photo of a warplane.
Founded 2022, $158 million raised from Riot Ventures, Champion Hill Ventures, Space.VC.
True Anomaly is focused on “orbital conflict”. It provides digital models for test events, tactics validation, threat replication, and operator training, and leverages AI “from course of action (COA) recommendations to full mission autonomy.” They have AOVs in orbit and have been awarded a $17.4 million Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command.
Founded 2021, seed round from Sam Altman, Susa Ventures, Countdown Capital.
Beacon AI is an artificial intelligence piloting system, serving a variety of aircraft systems including government fleets, with leadership and team from military aviation backgrounds.
Founded 2021, $420.9 million raised from General Catalyst, Prima Materia, Saab.
Helsing is a defense AI company serving the full war theatre, for sea, air and land operations. It focuses on enabling existing warcrafts with artificial intelligence capabilities. Based in Germany, and serving US allies, they have contracts with Germany, France and England. The CEO has stated that Helsing is active in the war in Ukraine.
Founded 2021, $5.6 million funding from YCombinator, Space.VC, Seraphim Space.
Array Labs is a satellite company advertising worldwide collection and 10x information compared to competitors. They use clusters of satellites working together to capture 3D, high resolution imagery for military usage.
Founded 2021, $4.2 million raised from Moonshots Capital, Veteran Fund, Capital Factory.
Proteus does defense satellite design and manufacturing. It leverages 3D printing for small hardware platforms, and is designed for at-scale production. Its advisors are primarily Air Force or ex Airforce.
Founded 2020, $21.5 million raised from Raytheon, Decisive Point, Achieve Capital.
Firehawk makes military rocket engines for offensive and defensive missions. They leverage 3D printing – “we 3D print our rocket fuel” – and claim innovation in maneuverability, range, and shortened production times of 4-6 months at 1/10 the cost of existing solutions.
Founded 2020, $99.5 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, Founder’s Fund, Lux Capital.
Hadrian is building factories to manufacture precision components for the defense industry. They promise 10x faster production and a reduction by half in the cost of making weapons and warfare vehicles including rockets, satellites, jets and drones.
Founded 2020, $40.5 million raised from Lux Capital, Menlo Ventures, Capricorn.
Whisper Aero creates 100x quieter propulsion for a variety of drones, jets and military aircraft. One major use case of the reduced noise footprint is in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Founded 2020, unknown raised from unknown funders.
Pico is command and control for autonomous systems, at global scale. Their platform connects these systems and provides unified view and operations for “the ultimate mission platform”. Picogrid has secured a $950 million Air Force contract.
Founded 2020, $39.1 million raised from Cantos, Boost VC, Draper Associates.
Venus Aerospace is building engines for hypersonic planes at Mach 9 speed; “The US and global allies have an immediate and urgent need for hypersonic technology.” Its initial aircraft is the Venus Stargaze, “Earth’s first hypersonic, reusable aircraft” operating at 170,000 feet.
Founded in 2020, $51 million raised from Founder’s Fund, Lux Capital, General Catalyst.
Varda provides hypersonic flight testing for the military. Its orbital capsule enters the atmosphere at 18,000 miles per hour, achieving high Mach speeds. The ultimate mission is to advance manufacturing in space, and “establish the first scaled industrial operations off our home planet.”
Founded 2019, $53.8 million raised from Founder’s Fund, Andreessen Horowitz.
Radiant is a portable nuclear reactor for military sites and installations. Hundreds of the reactors can be connected to their monitoring software. They recently secured a $3.8 million award from the Department of Defense as part of its efforts to “develop[] advanced energy conversion methods that can be applicable to warfighters of the modern era and the rapidly evolving energy landscape of the battlefield.”
Founded 2019, unknown funds raised from YCombinator, J2 Ventures, RRE Ventures.
Ravn is creating a heads-up display for soldiers that displays video feeds from cameras attached to military guns, drones and robots. Ravn is currently in stealth mode; little additional information available.
Founded 2019, $27 million raised from 8VC, Veteran Ventures Capital.
Cambian creates unmanned aerial vehicles and optical systems for pilots, leveraging modern materials to replace existing ageing systems. Their drones are designed to withstand heat, fire and ballistic impact. They are partnered with the US Navy and have a development contract with the Department of Defense.
Founded 2019, funding amount unknown from Lux Capital, RSE Ventures.
Performance Drone Works is a new drone manufacturer. Differentiators include portable and packable drones, performance in extreme, rugged and contested environments, dynamic military targeting and scale to the tactical-level unit.
Founded 2019, $150 million raised from Insight Ventures, Shield Capital, Pallas Ventures.
Rebellion creates software platforms for warfighters. This includes real-time threat identification, mission planning and battle management optimization.
Founded 2018, $176 million raised from Founder’s Fund, In-Q-Tel, Sam Altman.
Hermeus is developing autonomous Mach 5 aircraft, and works with the US Air Force and NASA. Hermeus is trying to beat the 50-year airspeed record and reach Mach 4+ speeds, above 3,000 miles per hour.
Founded 2018, $75k raised from Shield Capital, 8VC, Booz Allen.
Reveal AI creates battlefield AI that can be integrated onto drones and other warcrafts, manned or unmanned, and supports a number of Department of Defense’s unmanned aerial vehicles. It is partnered with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and the US Air Force. It can bring together feeds from multiple drones to produce a unified “pane of glass”.
Founded 2018, $34 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital.
Air Space Intelligence creates AI for complex military air operations. It features predictive awareness, real time data communication, a unified operating picture and visualization.
Founded 2018, $111.4 million raised from Moonshots Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Disney Accelerator, US Air Force.
RED 6 develops augmented reality technology for the military. Their technology has been used by the Air Force to train fighter pilots against virtual enemy warplanes. Their mission is “a future in which all warfighters across all domains are connected together in a joint augmented battlespace.” On the battlefield, they offer a headset for augmented reality with a full-color, wide view, high resolution display.
Founded 2018, $2.4 million raised from Scout Ventures, Techstars.
Acquired 2023, AeroVironment.
Tomahawk makes systems that support unmanned systems from many manufacturers, bringing together an AI-powered “single pane of glass”. Its products include controllers, data links, and edge devices. It integrates with products from Booz Allen Hamilton, Raytheon and others.
Founded 2018, $14.2 million raised from Khosla Ventures, Initialized Capital, Kindred Ventures.
Adyton provides mobile solutions for the battlefield and front line. Use cases include managing military personnel in the field, coordinating battlefield action, and data collection and analysis. It was a finalist in a US Air Force Initiative to create the “base of the future” and is used by the Army and Marines.
Founded 2018, $287.6 million raised from 8VC, Bedrock, General Dynamics Land Systems.
Epirus builds counter-drone and counter-drone swarm systems, using high-power microwaves for precision strikes. It can also be used to counter electronics systems in other vehicles and vessels on the battlefield. It has a $66 million contract with the US Army.
Founded 2018, $37.5 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, Dell Technologies.
Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Toka focuses on intelligence technology and covert operations, enabling intelligence agencies and militaries to “operate covertly and leave behind minimal-to-zero signs of infection, infiltration and reconnaissance”.
Founded 2018, $42.2 million raised from Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Techstars.
Orbit Fab focuses on space refuelling of military assets and spacecraft like satellites, space stations, war planes and rockets. They work closely with the US military and Air Force.
Founded 2017, $351.5 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Lux.
Applied Intuition provides war gaming and training software simulations. It enables the military to create and game a variety of battlefield scenarios, especially wrt unmanned ground vehicles.
Founded 2017, $2.2 billion raised from Andreessen Horowitz, In-Q-Tel, Founder’s Fund.
Anduril delivers a new vision of warfare, based on autonomous vehicles for land and sea, mass-scale lethal drone warfare, and AI-enabled battlefield intelligence. They are the biggest VC-backed weapons startup, and have 2,000 employees.
Founded 2017, $414 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Coatue.
Starburst is a startup accelerator and strategic advisory practice for military startups. Their portfolio includes over 140 startups it has seed funded. It facilitates contracts from the military and venture funds from larger venture firms to fast track the development and growth of defense startups. It is partnered with Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.
Founded 2017, $16.1 million raised from YCombinator, Starburst Accelerator.
Skyways is an AI-powered unmanned cargo aircraft. They come in four models with different sizes, ranges and weight capacity to reduce load carried by troops and transport military cargo.
Founded 2016, $602 million raised from Founder’s Fund, YCombinator, Spark Capital.
Scale AI is artificial intelligence and machine learning for defense and government. Use cases include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and autonomous military vehicles and weapons systems. It is currently used by the US Air Force, the US Army, the White House, the Defense Innovation Unit, and Shield AI, another weapons startup.
Founded 2016, $239 million raised from DCVC, Spark Capital, US Innovative Technology Fund.
Cappella Space creates Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites for earth observation surveillance. Its differentiator is visibility despite atmospheric conditions such as cloud covering. Its satellites can “capture sub-half-meter scale features and changes.” Customers include the US Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.
Founded 2016, unknown funding raised from In-Q-Tel.
Immersive Wisdom is designed to work in “Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited-Bandwidth (DDIL) environments”, “a remote collaborative ops center platform for distributed & disaggregated operations that allows geographically dispersed personnel to effectively work together and act without having to be physically present, even in severely bandwidth-limited environments, using existing desktops and laptops.” They recently announced a $25 million contract with the US Air Force.
Founded 2016, $39.7 million raised from Boeing, Lockheed Martin Ventures, DCVC.
Fortem builds attack drones to counter enemy drone systems. One of the main platforms is the DroneHunter F700, as well as the “SkyDome System” for drone defense that is already in use at military bases. It is also deployed in prisons and correctional facilities.
Founded 2016, $2.6 million funding from YCombinator, DCVC, Soma Capital.
ApolloShield creates counter-drone technology. Its products include RF sensors, a RF gun that blocks autonomous drones, and a software command center. Sales for many products are limited to the United States government.
Founded 2016, $46.8 million raised from In-Q-Tel, Starburst Accelerator, Allied Minds.
Orbital Sidekick creates hyperspectral, AI satellites for persistent monitoring. It offers situational awareness with high resolution and georectified hyperspectral intelligence data. Intrusion detection can track targets and troop movement, and pick up camouflage, chemical weapon and plume signatures.
Founded 2016, $4.5 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz.
Shift is a “military talent exchange for America”, focused on integrating military personnel into startups or VC firms for fellowships; these programs have brought intelligence officers, active military, special forces, and other “warfighters” into venture capital firms and accelerator and defense startups.
Founded 2015, $773 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, US Innovative Technology Fund.
ShieldAI creates battlefield, autonomous drone swarms and aircraft systems, with the strategic emphasis on AI piloting. It envisions warfare with “AI pilots powering every military asset: aircraft, drones, ships, satellites and submarines.”
Founded 2015, $237 million raised from Lux Capital, In-Q-Tel, DCVC.
Primer is a military AI company “for the next-generation warfighter”, creating AI for mission planning, asset tracking and intelligence operations, as well as real-time threat detection from social media and news data. It builds solutions to bridge classified and public information obtained via surveillance. It is partnered with Palantir.
Founded 2015, $70.6 million raised from In-Q-Tel, Yuga Labs, Epic Games.
Hadean is creating “the Military Metaverse”; here the focus is on integration of AR/VR in the battlefield, as well as war gaming and training. Hadean “enables users to rapidly create and explore courses-of-action, distributed across participants in geographically dispersed locations, leveraging open architecture to integrate incumbent and 3rd party systems, AI and datasets for scenario configuration.”
Founded 2015, $94.7 million raised from In-Q-Tel and SAP National Security Services.
Sayari has a strong focus on borders, leveraging surveillance of global public data to help its military customers analyze “rogue regime governments” and “transnational organized criminal networks.” It is used by a number of military and defense agencies including the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community, and the Department of Homeland Security, and US Customs and Border Protection.
Founded 2015, $1.3 million raised from Decisive Point, Veteran Ventures Capital.
Asylon creates AI-powered robots and drones for military bases and other military installations. Its air and ground robotics platform is called DroneCore, and features mission planning, sensor integration, real-time analytics and video management. They have done over 25,000 automated drone missions.
Founded 2014, $570 million raised from Andreessen Horowitz, Axon, Accel, NVIDIA.
Skydio manufactures drones that use AI to fly and avoid objects autonomously, are equipped with thermal imaging, forward looking infrared, GPS, and integrate with other battlefield tech.
Founded 2014, $199 million raised from Northrop Grumman, Lux Capital, Bill Gates.
Ecodyne creates radar systems for the military. It is used for drone detection and counter-drone measures, base and border security, and radar in remote locations: “fast and accurate data to maintain optical lock on target for identification and the accuracy and reliability required for target acquisition and fire control solutions.”
Founded 2014, $58 million raised from DCVC, Union Grove Venture Partners, Ajax.
Descartes Labs is a geospatial intelligence company for detecting patterns in the physical world. It gives military and intelligence agencies analytics and insight over large amounts of data, addressing ground surface movement, geopolitical engagements, crisis response, and threat forecasting. It is partnered with DARPA and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Founded 2014, $207.5 million raised from Ycombinator, 8VC, United States Air Force.
Boom manufactures supersonic planes for the military and defense, along with a commercial component; they are working with Northrop Grumman and have a strategic partnership with the United States Air Force. They also have a Defense Advisory Board which consists of a number of retired generals of the Air Force.
Founded 2014, unknown funds raised from Decisive Point, Catapult Ventures.
Flightwave makes military tricopters for surveillance and reconnaissance. It weighs less than 4 pounds and can be assembled and deployed in 60 seconds. They have procurement contracts with the Department of Defense, facilitated by the Defense Innovation Unit.
Founded 2013, seed funding raised from Resolute Ventures, Social Starts.
Onai focuses on artificial intelligence, cryptographic technologies and machine learning. They have won and completed projects for DARPA and NASA.
Founded 2013, $222 million raised from Founders Fund, Joe Lonsdale, YCombinator.
Gecko creates robots that monitor and evaluate critical infrastructure like missile silos, tanks and military ships. They have been contracted by the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, implementing “capability to rapidly assess concrete and steel liners in Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch facilities.”
Founded 2012, $189.5 million raised from Lux Capital, Google, Eric Schmidt.
Saildrone makes unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for ocean military operations. They focus on maritime borders. Their products purport to “out-sense, out-decide, and out-fight any adversary”.
Founded 2012, unknown funding raised from Decisive Point.
EpiSci is a software platform for drone swarms, tactical fighter aircraft and other aerial systems. They announced a contract with the US Air Force in 2023, for “heterogeneous swarms of uncrewed aircraft in contested environments under denied communication and navigation conditions.”
Founded 2012, $48.5 million raised from Founders Fund, Marque Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank.
GoTenna is a command and control system, leveraging mobile tactical communications for combat operations in off-grid zones. It includes software-integrated hardware solutions that “enhance command-level decision-making and teamwide situational awareness with access to real-time soldier information…[including in] caves, tunnels and underground structures.”