Latest Stories

Tech

Exclusive Interview: Anduril Unveils a 5G Sentry Tower for Remote Comms

Anduril is getting back to the basics. Everyone’s favorite neo-prime announced today the newest product in their oldest family of systems: a 5G Comms Sentry Tower (CST), built with Nokia and designed to deliver a bubble of connectivity in the most remote locations. If you thought Anduril was all-in on the boomy and zoomy things, […]

Investment

Scout AI Raises $100M to Build Robo-Warfare’s Brain 

We all know autonomy is all the rage right now, but Scout AI is taking it to the next level.  Yesterday, the California-based startup announced a $100M Series A co-led by Align Ventures and Draper Associates to, put simply, build the AI brain for the future of autonomous warfare. For those keeping score at home, […]

Investment

Firestorm Raises $82M to Scale 3D-Printed Drone Microfactories

Firestorm is, well, on fire.  The San Diego-based 3D-printed drone startup announced today that it’s raised an $82M Series B led by Washington Harbour Partners to scale production of its xCell containerized drone microfactories, “facilitate execution of contracts, and expand into a number of states around the country,” CEO Dan Magy told Tectonic.  Looks like […]

Tech

Rune Rolls Out a Military Logistics AI Agent 

Forget everything we’ve said about logistics being the unsexy domain of defense. We’re quickly leaving the days of pens, paper, whiteboards, and spreadsheets behind us and putting AI agents in the game.  Today, logistics and sustainment software startup Rune rolled out Saga, a frontline AI agent inside its flagship military logistics platform designed for reconstitution, […]

Big Conversations Read More
Q + A

A Q + A with Matt Cronin, Senior National Security Advisor at a16z

If there is one VC fund you know in the defense tech world, it’s probably Andreesen Horowitz—or a16z, as the cool kids say. The firm—which just raised a casual $15B, including $1.176B for its “national interest” (defense and deep tech) focused American Dynamism fund—has backed some of the biggest names in the game, including Anduril, […]

Q + A

Q + A: A.J. Bertone, Managing Partner, In-Q-Tel

If you’ve been paying attention to the past year of Tectonic (!!), you’ll recognize a sneaky three-letter acronym that pops up on a lot of defense tech cap tables: IQT.  For those lucky enough not to be in the know, that stands for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture fund backed by the US government and investing […]

Q + A

A Q+A with Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper

Mark Esper has spent a whole heck of a lot of time in the defense ecosystem.  After a decade in uniform in the US Army, he worked as a congressional staffer, a senior policy aide to Sens. Chuck Hagel and Bill Frist, and a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the early 2000s. Then, he […]

Q + A

A Q+A with Alex Ferrara, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners

If there is one fund that knows how to deploy big-time cash into tech companies, it’s Bessemer Venture Partners. The Silicon Valley fund has about $19B under management, and has invested in tech giants from LinkedIn (everyone’s fav) to Shopify. This year, the fund has turned to defense—specifically, European defense. They led Auterion’s $130M Series […]