A.I. Military Start-Up Anduril Close to Deal That Would Value Company at $28 Billion
Anduril, an artificial intelligence military start-up, is set to complete a new round of funding that will double the value of the company to $28 billion, according to four people familiar with the negotiations.
The funding round, which is led by Founders Fund and has not yet closed, is raising up to $2.5 billion, the people said. Founders Fund alone plans to invest $1 billion, the largest check ever written by the firm, two of the people said.
Anduril designs and builds autonomous systems and weapons for the military and other government agencies, including flying drones, missiles, underwater vessels and surveillance equipment for monitoring both national borders and the battlefield. It one of a new wave of companies building systems based on A.I. technologies for the government.
Founders Fund, started by the entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel, has backed Anduril since its start in 2017, and one of Anduril’s co-founders, Trae Stephens, is a partner at the firm. Mr. Thiel, who also co-founded Palantir, a military technology company, has long been a backer of Republican candidates including President Trump in 2016 and JD Vance’s run for Senate in 2022.
Six months ago, Anduril raised $1.5 billion at a $14 billion valuation.
Founders Fund declined to comment. CNBC first reported details of the funding talks.
The latest influx of cash comes as defense technology start-ups are ebullient about their prospects. Enthusiasm for building technology for the U.S. military has grown in recent years in Silicon Valley, a reversal from more than a decade of shying away from those contracts. As recently as 2018, thousands of employees at Google signed a letter protesting the company’s military contracts.
That resistance has slowly shifted, as more venture capital firms pour money into the sector.
President Trump is anticipated to turbocharge investments further. Palmer Luckey, Anduril’s founder, has supported President Trump since his 2016 campaign. He donated to President Trump’s campaign in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections, and has hosted fund-raisers.
On the night of the presidential election in November, Mr. Luckey posted a meme celebrating Mr. Trump’s victory. Elon Musk, the tech executive and a close adviser to the president, responded, saying it was “very important to open DoD/Intel to entrepreneurial companies like yours.”
In January, Mr. Luckey and Anduril announced plans to build a $1 billion factory in Ohio that they said would eventually produce tens of thousands of autonomous systems and weapons each year.
