Anduril, a defense technology company that makes weapons powered by artificial intelligence, said on Wednesday it had raised $5 billion in new funding as the modernization of the US military became a priority for the Trump administration.
The funding values Anduril at $61 billion, double the $30.5 billion it was valued at in June in its last funding round. The latest fundraising was led by longtime investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz amid talk that Anduril could try to go public next year. In total, the company has raised $6.82 billion through eight rounds of funding from investors including Founders Fund and Lux Capital.
Anduril has established itself as a top player among US defense companies. Founded by tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and others in 2017, the company has developed autonomous submarines and jets, armed drones and augmented reality helmets for the military. The firm, based south of Los Angeles, said it wanted to remake America’s national defense.
In its early years, Anduril created border surveillance software for the US government before expanding into other products. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the company began testing AI-powered drones on the battlefield and has since developed a range of drones.
In March Anduril signed A 10-year, $20 billion deal with the military for some of its software products and AI-powered weapons. The same month the company he announced that it was part of a consortium of companies that built the $185 billion space rocket system known as Golden Dome for the US government.
Brian Schimpf, Anduril’s CEO, said in a letter Wednesday that the company has more than doubled its revenue to $2.2 billion by 2025.
Anduril “nearly doubled our workforce, won and delivered our first international program of record to the Royal Australian Navy and demonstrated autonomous flight on the Air Force’s unmanned combat aircraft program, among many other milestones,” Mr Schimpf said.
So does the company opened a $1 billion factory in Ohio to speed up production of its weapons systems.
“The convergence of artificial intelligence, autonomy and advanced sensing is reshaping warfare,” Mr Schimpf said.
