Anduril Industries

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company that designs, builds, and deploys autonomous systems and AI-enabled hardware for military and national security applications. Its product portfolio spans surveillance towers, counter-drone systems, autonomous underwater vehicles, loitering munitions, and autonomous fighter aircraft, all powered by the company's Lattice AI operating system. Founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey (inventor of the Oculus Rift), Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, and Joe Chen, Anduril has positioned itself as a commercial-first alternative to traditional defense primes. The company builds products on its own balance sheet and sells them to governments, inverting the cost-plus contracting model. It has won major U.S. Department of Defense programs including the Collaborative Combat Aircraft. By 2026, Anduril had grown to roughly 7,000 employees and was reportedly pursuing a funding round at a $60B+ valuation led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, following a Series G at $30.5B in June 2025.

Anduril is the flag-bearer of a new generation of venture-backed defense primes applying Silicon Valley speed, software-first architecture, and autonomous systems to traditional military hardware, directly challenging Lockheed, Raytheon, and Northrop.

anduril.com Defense Autonomy

United Statesprivate

At a glance

Total raised

$6.2B

last round series g

Headcount

5000+

approximate · public range

Headquarters

Costa Mesa

United States

Founded

2017

9 years active

Status

Private

Defense Autonomy

Latest valuation

$30.5B

Series G · 2025

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Funding history

Total raised

$6.2B

Rounds tracked

Latest stage

Series G

Latest valuation

$30.5B

Date	Stage	Amount	Valuation	Lead investors
Jun 5, 2025	Series G	$2.5B	$30.5B	Founders Fund

Founder backgrounds

Brian Schimpf

Co-Founder & CEO

Studied operations research and industrial engineering at Cornell University, where he founded and led the school's autonomous vehicle research program and competed in DARPA's Grand Challenge. Was an early hire at Palantir Technologies, spending nearly a decade there and rising to Director of Engineering while building the Foundry product now deployed across government and industry. Co-founded Anduril alongside Palmer Luckey, leveraging that Palantir-era experience in government software and Cornell-rooted work in autonomy. A self-described "lifelong Democrat," he has publicly argued that the US defense industry needs Silicon Valley's technology to maintain military superiority, an unusual political stance in a tech sector that often avoids defense work.

Joe Chen

Co-Founder

Co-founded Anduril in 2017 alongside Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, and Brian Schimpf. Previously was one of the first employees at Oculus VR, where he served as Product Lead working on hardware development and ran non-gaming developer relations. After Oculus, he continued building in the VR space, focusing on new camera technologies and capture techniques. Holds a B.A. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and an MBA from USC. Distinctively, after a decade in engineering and product roles, he enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard and served as a paratrooper in the 1-143rd Infantry Battalion (Airborne)—a background that closely aligns with Anduril's mission to put advanced technology directly into the hands of warfighters.

Matt Grimm

Co-Founder & COO

Co-founded Anduril in 2017 alongside Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, and Trae Stephens. Previously served as a Principal at Mithril Capital Management, the Peter Thiel-backed growth-stage venture firm. Before that, was an early hire at Palantir Technologies, where he deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan in operational and technical roles supporting U.S. forces. Began his career as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, advising the Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Navy. Holds BS and MEng degrees in Systems Engineering from Cornell University, where he and Brian Schimpf (now Anduril's CEO) co-founded the university's autonomous vehicle entry into the DARPA Grand Challenge — a project that directly presaged the company's focus on autonomous systems. As COO, Grimm runs Anduril's operational core: facilities, security, supply chain, production, and logistics.

Palmer Luckey

Co-Founder

Founded Oculus VR in 2012 at age 19, building the Oculus Rift prototype in his parents' garage and raising $2.4M on Kickstarter before selling the company to Facebook in 2014 for roughly $2 billion. Homeschooled in Long Beach, Luckey took community college courses from age 14 and later studied journalism at California State University, Long Beach, but dropped out to pursue VR full-time. After departing Facebook in 2017, he launched Anduril Industries, a defense-tech company now valued at tens of billions, building autonomous systems, drones, and AI-powered military hardware. Luckey is known for an unapologetic, often provocative public posture — appearing in Hawaiian shirts at Pentagon meetings and openly framing his work as a mission to modernize American military technology.

Trae Stephens

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman

Graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and began his career as a computational linguist within the US intelligence community. He was one of the earliest employees at Palantir Technologies (joined ~2008), where he led teams focused on intelligence/defense growth and international expansion. That experience seeded the thesis that the Pentagon was drastically underinvesting in software-defined hardware — a conviction he took with him to Founders Fund, where he is a partner. In 2017, he co-founded Anduril alongside Palmer Luckey, and has since also co-founded Sol (a wearable e-reader) and Varda Space Industries. He publicly strikes an outspoken, often critical posture toward both congressional dysfunction and Silicon Valley's reluctance to engage with defense, arguing the U.S. is ceding strategic advantage to China.

AI bull / bear

Bull case

Anduril has secured a clear path to becoming the first new defense prime in half a century. With $6.2B raised, a June 2025 Series G at $30.5B valuation, and a reported $60B+ round in progress, the company has capital and credibility to execute at scale. The Collaborative Combat Aircraft win validates its ability to compete for tier-one DoD programs traditionally locked to incumbents. The company's Lattice operating system creates a moat: a software layer that unifies sensor data and orchestrates autonomous assets across domains (air, sea, ground, cyber). This architecture inverts the economics of defense—Anduril builds products on its balance sheet, ships iteratively, and avoids the cost-plus incentive structure that has made primes slow and expensive. At 7,000 employees, it now has the engineering mass to field complex systems at speed. Geopolitical tailwinds (China, Ukraine, drone proliferation) are accelerating demand for autonomous, affordable, and software-defined platforms—exactly Anduril's sweet spot. Founders Fund, a16z, and Thrive backing signals sustained institutional conviction.

Bear case

Anduril's model depends on the Pentagon actually changing procurement behavior, which remains unproven at the scale required to justify a $60B valuation. Despite high-profile wins, incumbents still control 90%+ of defense spending and possess decades of systems integration expertise, cleared workforces, and entrenched political relationships. The Collaborative Combat Aircraft program is years from large-scale production, and autonomous systems face regulatory, ethical, and operational acceptance hurdles. The company's rapid hiring to 7,000 employees risks diluting the Silicon Valley culture that differentiated it. Building hardware at scale is capital-intensive and low-margin; Anduril may converge toward prime economics as it matures. The reported $60B valuation implies a liquidity event or IPO within a few years, yet defense revenues are lumpy, multi-year, and subject to budget cycles. If the company cannot convert pilot wins into multi-billion-dollar recurring production contracts—or if a geopolitical detente reduces urgency—it may struggle to grow into its valuation before late-stage investors demand an exit.

Generated by claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 · April 25, 2026Refreshes quarterly · see disclosures

In the news

Crunchbase News Robotics5/13/2026
Anduril Raises Another $5B As Defense Tech Startups Shatter Funding Records
Anduril Industries raises $5B Series H at $61B valuation, doubling its worth in less than a year amid record defense-tech investment.

Watch

Leadership

Palmer Luckey

Co-Founder

𝕏

Brian Schimpf

Co-Founder & CEO & CEO & Co-Founder

Trae Stephens

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman

—

Matt Grimm

Co-Founder & COO & COO & Co-Founder

—

Joe Chen

Co-Founder

—

Products

Lattice OS
Open operating system designed to bring autonomy and command & control to the tactical level, built as the core autonomy platform for Anduril's defense portfolio. Hardware-agnostic but purpose-built for autonomous systems management, emphasizing real-time sensor fusion, autonomous vehicle coordination, and edge-deployed machine autonomy with minimal human intervention. Enables teams of unmanned systems to autonomously collaborate across sea, land, and air — extending reach and situational awareness under a single human operator. Already demonstrated operational effectiveness in active deployments along the U.S. southern border, where it serves as the backbone for the Autonomous Surveillance Towers (ASTs) program, processing data from over 200 tower installations.
Ghost sUAS
Autonomous vertical takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) small unmanned aircraft system delivering quiet, modular ISR, targeting, and force protection at the tactical edge with minimal training. Man-portable and multi-mission capable, with all-electric powertrain providing over 100 minutes flight time at full payload with near-silent acoustic signature. Runs on Anduril's Lattice AI software platform, enabling a single operator to command multiple Ghost units from one ground control station. Single-rotor design enables precise vertical takeoff and landing from confined spaces. Ghost-X variant selected by U.S. Army in September 2024 for company-level small UAS requirement.
Altius loitering munition
Fixed-wing, tube-launched unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Area-I, an Atlanta-based subsidiary of Anduril acquired in April 2021. Delivers unmatched payload capacity, best-in-class loitering time, and advanced autonomy to execute coordinated strikes. Combines autonomy, modular payloads, and real-time networking. First tranche delivered to Taiwan as part of a foreign military sale contract signed in 2024.
Sentry Tower
A 33-foot tall solar-powered portable surveillance tower that forms the foundation of Anduril's Sentry autonomous-surveillance platform. The tower integrates a camera, communications antennae, radar, and thermal imaging, and operates autonomously while feeding data into Lattice, Anduril's AI software platform. Each tower autonomously detects people, vehicles, and animals, with Lattice AI outperforming human operators while requiring fewer staff. At 33 feet tall, it requires only a 16-by-16-foot installation area and can be transported in a standard pickup truck. Anduril began supplying stationary towers in 2020 to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle
Large-diameter autonomous undersea vehicle with modular payloads, 10-day endurance, and 6,000m operating depth. The 3-ton vehicle can autonomously conduct missions for up to 10 days with an architecture that scales for multi-week operations. Equipped with 3D-printed exterior and suitable for undersea battlespace intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, mine counter-warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and seafloor mapping. Selected in August 2024 as part of the Pentagon's Replicator initiative for mass production of autonomous systems. First delivered to the U.S. Navy in April 2025.
Fury (CCA autonomous fighter)
Unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed for the U.S. Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program to augment crewed fighter aircraft for air-to-air missions through manned-unmanned teaming . Leverages Lattice autonomy software to deliver near-fighter-speed performance with modular mission payloads . Jet-powered with cost-effective architecture designed for mass production . One of two winners of CCA Increment I alongside the General Atomics YFQ-42 . Achieved first flight on October 31, 2025 , and entered serial production at Arsenal-1 factory in Ohio on March 24, 2026 .
Anvil counter-drone
Autonomous kinetic interceptor that defeats drone threats with kinetic precision and minimal collateral damage. Cued by Lattice, Anvil delivers speed, power, and human-authorized defeat of Group 1–2 UAS. The quadcopter locates target drones using computer vision and can be commanded to ram targets by its operator. Anvil weighs approximately 11.6 pounds and integrates with a 253-pound Launch Box transport configuration. A munitions variant called Anvil-M, unveiled in October 2023, uses a fire-control module and munitions payload to destroy Group 1 and 2 UAS.

Most recent patents

Anduril Industries, Inc.·2026-03-03
Modular System For Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects
US12568602
Abstract
Modular System For Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects
US12568602
Abstract A modular, radio frequency (“RF”) system includes one or more directional antennas and is configured with both hardware and software components to enable the RF system to monitor (e.g., detect or track signals or objects) and/or interact with (e.g., track signals or objects, or transmit signals) objects in particular directions. The RF system includes one or more machine learning models to determine, based on received signals, one or more signals to transmit.
View on Google Patents
Anduril Industries, Inc.·2026-02-24
System And Method For Detection And Classification Using A Statistical Feature Vector
US12561945
Abstract
System And Method For Detection And Classification Using A Statistical Feature Vector
US12561945
Abstract The present application discloses a method, system, and computer system for performing object detection and/or classification. The method includes (i) obtaining sensor data, (ii) processing the sensor data to obtain hypercube data representing the sensor data, (iii) transforming a data representation of the sensor data to obtain a statistical feature vector representing the sensor data, wherein the data representation is transformed based at least in part on processing the data representation using a Multistage Wiener Filter (MWF), (iv) performing an object detection and/or classification based at least in part on analyzing the statistical feature vector using a machine learning model, and (v) providing an indication of the object detection and/or classification.
View on Google Patents
Anduril Industries, Inc.·2026-02-10
Modular System For Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects
US12546851
Abstract
Modular System For Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects
US12546851
A modular, radio frequency (“RF”) system includes one or more directional antennas and is configured with both hardware and software components to enable the RF system to monitor (e.g., detect or track signals or objects) and/or interact with (e.g., track signals or objects, or transmit signals) objects in particular directions. The RF system includes one or more machine learning models to determine, based on received signals, one or more signals to transmit.
View on Google Patents
Anduril Industries, Inc.·2026-02-10
Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects Using Models In A Modular System
US12546878
Abstract
Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects Using Models In A Modular System
US12546878
A modular, radio frequency (“RF”) system includes one or more directional antennas and is configured with both hardware and software components to enable the RF system to monitor (e.g., detect or track signals or objects) and/or interact with (e.g., track signals or objects, or transmit signals) objects in particular directions. The RF system includes one or more machine learning models to determine, based on received signals, one or more signals to transmit.
View on Google Patents
Anduril Industries, Inc.·2025-12-16
Foldable Propeller Blade With Locking Mechanism
US12497159
Abstract
Foldable Propeller Blade With Locking Mechanism
US12497159
Abstract An unmanned aerial vehicle with deployable components (UAVDC) may comprise a foldable propeller blade with a locking mechanism. Foldable propeller blades may have a stowed configuration and a deployed configuration relative to the UAVDC, and the foldable propeller blades may pivot about a hinge to move between configurations. In the deployed configuration, the foldable propellor may experience forward folding forces acting upon it. The locking mechanism may lock the foldable propeller blade in the deployed configuration. The locking mechanism may keep the foldable propeller locked into place to prevent forward folding tendency.
View on Google Patents
Anduril Industries, Inc.·2025-12-09
Aerial Vehicle With Deployable Components And Configurable Gearbox
US12491983
Abstract
Aerial Vehicle With Deployable Components And Configurable Gearbox
US12491983
Abstract An unmanned aerial vehicle with deployable components (UAVDC) is disclosed. The system may include a sweeping gearbox designed to deploy at least one wing from a compact to a deployed arrangement. A controller may be configured to detect launch conditions, monitor for conditions, and trigger the gearbox upon condition fulfillment. Activation of the sweeping gearbox may result in wing deployment, adapted to the detected conditions. The method may involve deploying wings using the sweeping gearbox, launching detection, monitoring for conditions, and activating the gearbox for wing deployment upon condition detection.
View on Google Patents
Anduril Industries, Inc.·2025-11-18
Fuel Measurement For Vertical Take-Off Dual-Engine Aircraft
US12473078
Abstract
Fuel Measurement For Vertical Take-Off Dual-Engine Aircraft
US12473078
Abstract The present application discloses an aircraft configured for vertical take-off and landing and horizontal flight. The aircraft includes one or more processors configured to control distribution of fuel among a plurality of aircraft fuel tanks. Controlling the distribution of fuel includes: (a) determining a first fuel level in a first nacelle fuel tank, wherein the first nacelle fuel tank is configured to provide a supply of fuel to a first engine during both (i) a vertical take-off and land operation, and (ii) a horizontal flight operation, (b) determining a fuselage fuel level in a fuselage fuel tank, and (c) determining whether to redistribute fuel across at least the first nacelle fuel tank and the fuselage fuel tank based at least in part on the first fuel level and the fuselage fuel level.
View on Google Patents
Anduril Industries, Inc.·2025-11-04
Modular System For Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects
US12463356
Abstract
Modular System For Detecting, Tracking, And Transmitting To Identified Objects
US12463356
A modular, radio frequency (“RF”) system includes one or more directional antennas and is configured with both hardware and software components to enable the RF system to monitor (e.g., detect or track signals or objects) and/or interact with (e.g., track signals or objects, or transmit signals) objects in particular directions. The RF system includes one or more machine learning models to determine, based on received signals, one or more signals to transmit.
View on Google Patents

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