AN-027 Company lists · list
Defense Tech Startups: The New Primes and Who Funds Them
Defense tech startups in the HardwareMap index: drones, autonomous ships, hypersonic missiles, counter-drone systems. HQ, stage, disclosed raise, backers.
by the HardwareMap editors3 min read
From the HardwareMap index, REV 26.09, refreshed 3 Oct 2026
Contents
Defense tech startups in the HardwareMap index number 11 as of REV 26.09: drone makers, autonomous ship builders, a hypersonic missile maker and the counter-drone specialists. This page lists each with HQ hub, stage, disclosed capital raised, status and public investors. Sorting rule: what the company builds, then disclosed funding. It sits under the hardware startups index.
The table is live, drawn from the same records as each company datasheet. Capabilities on this page are described as the companies report them publicly. We do not publish operational detail.
How we define defense tech startups
A company enters the defense category when its main customers are militaries and its products are built for defense use. Companies that sell dual-use products mainly to civilian buyers, such as drone mapping or satellite imaging, stay in their own categories. We group the list by what the company builds:
- Autonomous aircraft and drones.
- Autonomous ships.
- Missiles.
- Counter-drone systems and sensing.
Inside each group, disclosed capital raised orders the names. "Raised" means disclosed equity only.
Defense tech startups building autonomous aircraft
Anduril Industries (Costa Mesa) builds autonomous aircraft, undersea vehicles, sensor towers and counter-drone interceptors, coordinated by its Lattice software. In January 2025 it picked Columbus, Ohio, for Arsenal-1, a large plant to build its systems at volume (Anduril).
Shield AI (San Diego) develops Hivemind autonomy software, designed to fly aircraft without GPS or reliable communications, and the V-BAT vertical takeoff drone (Shield AI V-BAT). Skydio (San Mateo) builds the X10 drone and docks for militaries, police and utilities.
Helsing (Munich) started with defense AI software and moved into hardware: the HX-2 strike drone and the CA-1 Europa uncrewed combat aircraft. Quantum Systems (Gilching) builds electric vertical takeoff reconnaissance drones and announced a Series D in July 2026, per its index record. Neros (Torrance) builds Archer, a low-cost FPV drone made without Chinese components. ideaForge (Navi Mumbai) builds drones for defense and civil customers in India and is listed. The drone side has its own page: drone companies.
Ships, missiles and counter-drone systems
Saronic (Austin) builds autonomous surface vessels for navies, from the six-foot Spyglass to the 180-foot Marauder. Its index record notes a US Navy production contract for the 24-foot Corsair. Saronic is the only naval company in the category, and its disclosed raise is the fourth largest in the table.
Castelion (Torrance) was founded by former SpaceX engineers to mass-produce lower-cost long-range weapons. Its Blackbeard hypersonic missile has US Army and Navy integration and production contracts, according to its index record.
Epirus (Torrance) builds Leonidas, a solid-state high-power microwave system that uses gallium nitride amplifiers to disable the electronics of many drones at once. It was developed under US Army counter-drone contracts. CHAOS Industries (Los Angeles) builds Vanquish, which links many distributed radar nodes into one sensor to track drones, missiles and aircraft.
Who funds defense tech startups
The index records investors where they are public, and defense companies disclose fewer names than most. Two records stand out. Skydio lists Andreessen Horowitz, Linse Capital, IVP and NVIDIA. Quantum Systems lists Blackstone, Noteus, Airbus and Advent, a mix of private equity, growth funds and an aerospace strategic.
Government money arrives differently. In the United States, the Defense Innovation Unit runs programs that buy prototypes from commercial companies through contracts, not equity, and started the Blue UAS list of drones cleared for military use, which it said in July 2025 it would hand to DCMA (DIU). For the funds that back hardware across categories, see deep tech VC firms; for the stages they invest at, see hardware startups by funding stage.
Three patterns hold across the list:
- Southern California concentration. Six of the 11 are in the Los Angeles area or San Diego, close to aerospace suppliers and talent.
- Manufacturing as the pitch. Anduril, Neros and Castelion each describe production volume and cost as the product, not only the design.
- Europe is catching up. Helsing and Quantum Systems hold two of the five largest disclosed raises in the category.
Launch, satellites and in-space work sit next door in space startups. The next REV adds new entries and marks status changes here first.
Continue with Military and Defense Drone Companies.
Frequently asked questions
How many defense tech startups are in the HardwareMap index?
The index lists 11 defense tech startups as of REV 26.09 in its defense category. Eight are American, two are German and one is Indian. They build drones, autonomous naval vessels, hypersonic missiles, high-power microwave systems and radar. Other companies with defense customers, such as some space and drone compute firms, are filed under their main category instead.
Which defense tech startup has raised the most?
Anduril Industries, based in Costa Mesa, California, has the largest disclosed raise in the index at $11.4 billion. Shield AI follows at $3.4 billion and Helsing at about $3.4 billion. Saronic, the autonomous ship builder, is next at about $2.6 billion. These are disclosed equity rounds only, and the index never converts them into a valuation.
What does new prime mean in defense?
A prime is the contractor that holds a government contract directly and manages the subcontractors under it. The term new primes describes venture-backed companies such as Anduril, Shield AI and Saronic that aim to win production contracts on their own, rather than sell parts to the established contractors. Several in the index now report production contracts with the US military.
Who invests in defense tech startups?
Venture firms, growth investors, private equity and strategic investors. The index records investors where they are public: Skydio lists Andreessen Horowitz, IVP and NVIDIA among its backers, and Quantum Systems lists Blackstone and Airbus. Government programs, such as the Defense Innovation Unit in the United States, fund prototypes through contracts rather than equity.
Do defense tech startups sell to Ukraine?
Several say so publicly. In the index, Helsing reports producing its HX-2 drone in volume for Ukraine, and Neros reports supplying Ukraine and the US Army. Shield AI reports that its V-BAT has flown there. This page records those public statements only. It does not describe operational use, and export rules for each product are set by governments.
HardwareMap catalogues defense tech startups from public sources only. Open any company above for its datasheet, or browse the defense category.
The index
All 219 startups, filterable by category, hub, stage and funding.