Red 6's AR Military Training System Has Pilots Evaluating 'Synthetic' Aerial Threats

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.

Red 6

Santa Monica-based Red 6 pitches its technology as the new way to train military pilots through augmented reality.

"Real pilots in real airplanes can go up in the sky and look through the helmet visor system we've created," said founder and CEO Daniel Robinson. "They look out of their cockpit and see virtual airplanes they can train and interact with. We've ushered in an era of synthetic training."


On Monday, the startup that was founded by an ex-Royal Air Force Tornado pilot closed a $30 million Series A round valuing it at $130 million, according to the company.

The fundraising was led by Snowpoint Ventures, a fund whose goal is to "close the national security gaps through investments and operational expertise," Snowpoint co-founder Dough Philioppne said in a statement.

Robinson, who founded the company in 2018, has built the hardware and software product — dubbed Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System — through a partnership with the U.S. Air Force.

It uses both AR and artificial intelligence to train pilots and ground operators by placing them in the middle of what the company calls "synthetic threats." And the CEO said the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy — both "struggling with training" — could be his next partners.

Pilots with the U.S. Air Force should begin training with the technology soon, according to spokesperson Christina Babbitt.

Daniel Robinson, Red 6Red 6 founder and CEO Daniel Robinson

The company has raised about $43 million to date. The latest boost comes three months after it raised a $7 million funding round in the form of a simple agreement for future equity, which gives investors a right to equity in the company.

The company plans to use this round's raise to nearly double its size, Robinson said.

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LA-Based Apex Is Tapping Into the Small Satellite Market by Making Buses for Spacecraft

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

​Ian Cinnamon
Ian Cinnamon

On this episode of Office Hours, Apex founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon discusses the importance of investing in space exploration and shares his thoughts on the evolving space ecosystem in Los Angeles.


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Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

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Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
InLA

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“This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

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