Peter Thiel-backed defense technology startup Anduril raises $200M
Summary
Defense technology startup Anduril Industries Inc. said today it has raised $200 million in a new funding round that takes its valuation to $1.9 billion. Anduril’s products have gotten attention from Pentagon military chiefs at a time when much of their focus has been on countering geopolitical rivals such as China, Iran and Russia. China, for example, has been aggressively investing next-generation technologies such as 5G communications and artificial intelligence, and so the U.S. Department of Defense has been forced to respond in kind. Indeed, the market Anduril is trying to break into is dominated by traditional defense contractors such as Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., which specialize in jets, missiles, submarines and other types of expensive military hardware. A good example of that is Peter Thiel’s data management and analytics software firm Palantir Technologies Inc., whose clients include the U.S. Navy, the U.S. National Security Agency and the U.S. Space Force.