By Ed Ludlow | Bloomberg
Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa has closed a new funding round of $2.5 billion, a deal that more than doubles the defense startup’s valuation to $30.5 billion, Executive Chairman Trae Stephens said Thursday.
The latest capital injection and increased valuation — up from $14 billion last year — underscores how quickly the company is establishing itself as a major player in the corporate landscape of American national security.
Founders Fund, the venture capital firm backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, led the new funding round with a $1 billion investment, Stephens said in the interview Thursday.
He added that it was the largest check in Founders Fund history. Stephens, an Anduril co-founder, is also a Founders Fund partner.
Anduril makes a range of products aimed at bolstering American defense. That includes weaponized drones and software to control them, as well as augmented reality helmets for the military. The firm, based out of the reimagined, former Los Angeles Times printing facility, has said it wants to remake American national defense, with a focus on technologies like drones and artificial intelligence.
Stephens said the goal of the latest funding was to create a company that can tackle the “largest problems for the national security community.” As the startup builds out its capacity to produce more hardware, “we thought it was really important to shore up the balance sheet and make sure we have the ability to deploy capital into these manufacturing and production problem sets that we’re working on.”
The Series G round, some details of which had been previously reported, was oversubscribed, Stephens said. Investor demand meant the startup could have raised 8 to 10 times what it did. The new valuation includes the additional financing.
Defense technology has become an increasingly important sector as incidents like this week’s Ukrainian drone bombing of Russian military assets highlight the role of new technology in modern warfare.
Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, who previously co-founded headset company Oculus VR, has said that the US must accelerate its drone development in order to remain competitive with China.
The new funding round comes after Anduril raised $1.5 billion last year to build out a sprawling factory that can quickly manufacture autonomous weapons. The company selected a 5-acre site in Columbus, Ohio, for the factory, called Arsenal-1, which will mass produce aerial and maritime drones, sensors and other products.
The company is also working on new infantry goggles for the US Army, a project that could be valued at more than $20 billion in the next decade if all options are exercised. Last week, it said it would partner with Meta Platforms Inc. to develop new products for the military, including an AI-powered helmet.
The company is well positioned within the current administration to become an increasingly important government contractor. After President Donald Trump’s reelection, Stephens consulted with the incoming administration on how to transform the nation’s defense efforts. Another Anduril staffer, Michael Obadal, was a senior director at the startup before his nomination to be the Army’s No. 2 civilian official in March.
In the interview Thursday, Stephens said the company had a good working relationship with the Trump administration. “They’re open, they’re curious, they’re looking for information.”
