Defense Startup Anduril Industries Seeking to Raise $500M-Plus: Report
Image by Ian Hurley

Defense Startup Anduril Industries Seeking to Raise $500M-Plus: Report

Anduril Industries, the Costa Mesa-based defense technology startup and U.S. military contractor, is reportedly looking to raise at least $500 million in an upcoming funding round at a $7 billion pre-money valuation.


Anduril could raise up to $1 billion in the Series E round, The Information reported on Thursday, citing two sources with “direct knowledge of the matter.” The publication also reported the round, which has not yet closed, is being led by an existing investor. The startup has raised $835 million to date from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners and venture capitalist Elad Gil. Gil led a $450 million Series D round last June that valued Anduril at $4.6 billion.

Anduril develops and builds both hardware and software for defense applications, including border surveillance towers and self-piloting drones (including an autonomous submarine drone made for deepwater exploration). Its core software product is an operating system called Lattice, which is used to detect potential security threats.

The company has clinched several lucrative government contracts in recent years. In 2020, it struck a deal with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to deploy 200 surveillance towers on the Mexican border. In January, it inked a nearly $1 billion contract with U.S. Special Operations Command for systems that detect and neutralize counter-drone attacks.

Anduril was launched in 2017 by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, who sold the virtual reality headset firm to Facebook for $3 billion in 2014. After leaving Oculus, Luckey founded Anduril alongside Founders Fund partner Trae Stephens and ex-Palantir executives Matt Grimm and Brian Schimpf, who now serves as Anduril’s CEO. Luckey is the company’s chief technology officer.

Anduril and Luckey did not respond to dot.LA’s requests for comment.

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Photo by Ameen Fahmy on Unsplash

Eliminating battery waste, developing new hair growth therapy, fixing carbon dioxide. These are among some of the ambitious problems that companies are trying to solve at the First Look SoCal Innovation Showcase beginning Tuesday.

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Francesca Billington

Francesca Billington is a freelance reporter. Prior to that, she was a general assignment reporter for dot.LA and has also reported for KCRW, the Santa Monica Daily Press and local publications in New Jersey. She graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a degree in anthropology.

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Samson Amore

At Lowercarbon Capital’s LA Tech Week event Thursday, the synergy between the region’s aerospace industry and greentech startups was clear.

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Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

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