Why we invest in dual-use defense.

The post-Cold War peace dividend is over. The world is re-entering an era of great power competition, and the technologies that will determine its outcome are being built right now — mostly by small teams, mostly underfunded, mostly ignored by the mainstream venture community.

We are at an inflection point. The convergence of autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing has created a window in which small, fast-moving companies can build capabilities that were previously the exclusive domain of nation-states and prime contractors.

That window will not stay open forever. The founders who move now — who understand the procurement landscape, who have the technical depth, and who can navigate the dual-use complexity — will define the next generation of national security technology.

Dual-use does not mean building a consumer product and hoping the government buys it. It means building technology with genuine defensibility in both commercial and national security markets — where the same core capability creates value in both contexts without requiring a fundamentally different product.

The best dual-use companies are not trying to serve two masters. They are building something so foundational that both markets need it. The commercial revenue funds the roadmap. The defense contracts validate the technology. The combination creates a moat that neither market alone could build.

We focus on four sectors where we have deep conviction and genuine edge: autonomous systems, dual-use AI, critical infrastructure, and space and sensing. These are not arbitrary categories. They are the domains where we have seen the most compelling founders, the clearest technology differentiation, and the most defensible paths to both commercial and government revenue.

Within each sector, we look for companies building at the hardware-software boundary — where the integration of physical and digital systems creates capabilities that are genuinely hard to replicate. Software-only defense companies are increasingly commoditized. Hardware-only companies are increasingly slow. The companies that own the integration layer own the market.

We invest at the earliest stages — pre-seed and seed — when the technology is unproven and the mission is not. We are not looking for companies that have already figured it out. We are looking for founders who understand the problem deeply enough that we trust them to figure it out.

We bring a network that spans defense procurement, national laboratories, prime contractors, and the operator community. We have seen what works in the field and what does not. We help founders navigate the government contracting landscape without losing the speed and agility that makes them worth backing in the first place.