UPDATED 21:53 EDT / JUNE 17 2021

EMERGING TECH

Defense tech startup Anduril raises $450M to turn ‘warfighters into invincible technomancers’

Defense technology startup Anduril Industries Inc. said today that it has raised $450 million in new funding to “turn allied warfighters into invincible technomancers.”

Serial entrepreneur and investor Elad Gil led the Series D round. Other investors included Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Valor Equity Partners and D1 Capital Partners. The round was raised at a valuation of $4.6 billion.

Co-founded in 2017 by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey and former Palantir Inc. Director of Engineering Brian Schimpf, Anduril is a defense product company that builds technology for military agencies and border surveillance. The company uses advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, computer vision, sensor fusion, optics and automation to solve what it says are critical and complex national security challenges.

Anduril’s Lattice AI software platform ties together the company’s security solutions using computer vision, machine learning and mesh networking to combine real-time sensor data into a single, autonomous operations picture and command and control platform. The platform is currently used to support operations with the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the U.K. Ministry of Defense and other agencies.

As noted when Anduril last raised funding in July, the company’s technology is controversial. That technology includes a surveillance tower used along the U.S. southern border with Mexico that continuously scans the landscape for any suspicious activity and alerts border agents if it spots anything.

Anduril has also designed small drones programmed to ram into targets that enter contested airspace. That idea is that the drones can defend against other drones that might be used to spy or attack military assets.

Recent notable achievements for Anduril include obtaining its first Program of Record with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, moving from a pilot program to a Program of Record in less than three years. The company also acquired unmanned aircraft systems firm Area-I Inc. in April.

“Anduril’s product suite increases the safety of people serving our country and can protect key national infrastructure,” Gil said in a blog post. “Anduril expands the sensor and drone toolset available to the government in a way that modernizes and extends its efforts while also having the potential to increase efficiency and save lives.”

Including the new funding, Anduril has raised $691 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

Image: Anduril

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