With hypersonic planes and vast drone factories, startups from Anduril to Astranis are changing the nature of war.
Anduril Industries is preparing to build a drone factory in Ohio the size of 87 football fields. This project heralds a new era in the defense industry, where technology startups will be important.
In an industry long dominated by a few established players, changes in battlefield technology have led the Department of Defense to take a closer look at young technology companies. Their sci-fi sounding projects include autonomous submarines (Anduril), advanced microwave weapons (Epirus Inc.), and aircraft capable of flying more than five times the speed of sound (Hermeus Corp.).
Some high-tech companies have already achieved great success. Palantir Technologies and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are both heavily involved in defense and are more valuable than Lockheed Martin and RTX (formerly Raytheon), respectively. While most startups are unable to reach those heights, hampered by technical challenges and labyrinthine government contract rules, venture capitalists see a huge opportunity. Investors have poured more than $130 billion into defense technology startups since 2021, double the amount from the previous four years, according to PitchBook data.
Looking ahead, technologists are especially optimistic about President-elect Donald Trump, who has brought Silicon Valley closer to Mar-a-Lago, including inviting Chairman Anduril for advice. President Trump and his fellow members have promised to revamp America’s national defense by cutting waste and modernizing the way weapons are manufactured and acquired. In 2025, technology startups and their owners will have even more influence.
Here, in no particular order, are 10 defense technology startups to watch this year.
company Anduril
CEO brian simp
evaluation $14 billion
industry Drones, weapons and software
Headquarters costa mesa california
Anduril may be the most well-known defense company in tech, with a fleet of small fighter jets, autonomous submarines, and the AI software that controls them. Construction will soon begin on a 5 million square foot (equivalent to 87 football fields) factory with the capacity to mass-produce tens of thousands of autonomous weapons. Backed by notable investors including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz, Anduril is known for its colorful co-founder Palmer Lackey and well-connected chairman Trey Stevens. The company is also a prolific acquirer, having entered into several notable partnerships, including one with OpenAI to level up its drone defense capabilities. Unlike many aspiring defense contractors, Anduril already has multibillion contracts with the U.S. government and allied nations. Fun fact: One of Anduril’s first checks came from Vice President-elect JD Vance during his time as a VC at Revolution Capital.
company Shield AI
CEO Ryan Tseng
evaluation $2.8 billion*
industry Drones and software
Headquarters san diego
Why fly a drone when you can fly a swarm of drones? Shield AI, along with software called Hivemind, creates an autonomous drone called V-BAT. The software also operates drones along with jets and quadcopters, allowing the aircraft to analyze and react to the battlefield in real time without the need for GPS or prior area knowledge. With support from groups like Andreessen Horowitz and the National Foundation for Innovative Technology, the company aims to ramp up production of V-BAT this year to further its ultimate goal of a swarm of autonomous systems to thwart enemy attacks. are.
company applied intuition
CEO Kasar Yunis
evaluation 6 billion dollars
industry self-driving car technology
Headquarters Mountain View, California
Applied Intuition’s AI software has been helping companies like Toyota Motor Corporation and Porsche AG develop and test self-driving technology for years. The startup’s defense division is now working on a similar initiative for the U.S. military, mapping air, sea, and land environments, simulating new environments, and using that data to improve unmanned systems. He has won millions of dollars in defense contracts. Its software allows soldiers to coordinate attacks using autonomous drones from multiple vendors. This is important as the number of weapons manufacturers increases. The company will next expand its domain offering to include spaces.
company epirus
CEO andy lowry
evaluation Approximately 1 billion dollars
industry electronic weapons
Headquarters torrance california
Equipped with a powerful microwave system that can attack drones from the air, Epirus specializes in short-range air defense, using electronic weapons to eliminate swarms of more than 100 drones. The US Marine Corps purchased a portable version of this tool. It can be towed behind a vehicle and is designed to operate in remote environments with limited power. The company has a more than $100 million contract with the Department of Defense and plans to use the technology in the Middle East this year.
company hermaeus
CEO AJ Pika
evaluation $400 million
industry hypersonic aircraft
Headquarters atlanta
Hypersonic travel is traveling at more than five times the speed of sound, fast enough to cut a seven-hour transatlantic flight to 90 minutes and evade most weapons defense systems. Hermeus is one of several companies working on hypersonic technology, developing both commercial aircraft and tools for defense and national security. The government contract with Hermaeus totals about $60 million, but Russia’s recent display of hypersonic weapons in Ukraine could increase the urgency. With support from Khosla Ventures, Canaan Partners, and Sam Altman, Hermeus recently completed its first ground test at Edwards Air Force Base. The company plans to fly its first aircraft soon.
company Re:Build Manufacturing
CEO Miles Arnone
evaluation Unpublished
industry Manufacturing technology and services
Headquarters Framingham, Massachusetts
A common lament among U.S. defense watchers is that America isn’t building anything anymore — that the “weapons of democracy” remain lost to China. Companies like Re:Build Manufacturing want to strengthen America’s industrial power. Since launching four years ago, the startup has raised $557 million from backers including General Catalyst and acquired 12 companies. The company engineers, designs, tests and manufactures everything from medical supplies to missile components and has more than 20 defense contracts with the Department of Defense and U.S. defense manufacturers.
company Scale AI
CEO Alexander Wang
evaluation $13.8 billion
industry artificial intelligence
Headquarters san francisco
In the coming era of modern warfare, there may be no technology more important than AI. But the value of AI is determined by the data that goes into it. Scale uses an army of contractors to organize and tag images, text, and other data so it can be used for AI training. Recently, Scale has been working with the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to strengthen its relationship with the government and serve as a bridge between the technology and defense industries. Last year, the startup released Defense Llama, a version of Meta’s Llama large-scale language model aimed at military use.
company skydio
CEO Adam Bly
evaluation 2.5 billion dollars
industry autonomous drone
Headquarters San Mateo, California
Originally sold to consumers as a cool way to document mountain biking and other activities, Skydio drones are now used by police and soldiers on patrol in conflict zones such as Ukraine. . The company’s autonomous aircraft are programmed to charge at remote docking stations, allowing them to fit into a massive national effort to produce cheaper and more effective weapons at scale. . The startup also works to thwart electronic attacks, or sabotage.
company firefly aerospace
CEO Jason Kim
evaluation 2 billion dollars
industry spaceship
Headquarters Cedar Park, Texas
Lunar lander and orbiter maker Firefly is scheduled to make its first moon landing this month with supplies for NASA, one of dozens of missions the company has planned this year. be. The startup sells its technology to both corporations and governments, and is also expanding into defense operations. This fall, Firefly received $175 million in new funding and approval to use its Elytra spacecraft to launch and operate military satellites.
company astranis
CEO John Gedmark
evaluation Approximately 1 billion dollars
industry satellite
Headquarters san francisco
Astranis cheaply builds high-orbit satellites the size of industrial washing machines and deploys its technology into space on behalf of corporations, small countries and the Department of Defense. The company plans to launch five commercial satellites this year, and aims to rapidly expand its scale with plans to launch 100 by 2030. In October, the U.S. Space Force selected Astranis to design a constellation of GPS satellites to thwart communications jamming. The goal is to launch the first eight by 2028. This is one of 15 defense-related deals the company has signed to date.
—With assistance from Rachel Metz.
*Bloomberg Beta, a division of Bloomberg LP, is an investor in Shield AI.
