Funds
What each fund is, who runs it, and what on this map it backs.
Peter Thiel's firm. Anchor backer of Anduril since the 2017 seed and lead of Palantir's early rounds. About 20% of managed capital is the partners' own money, unusual for VC. Closed a $4.6B growth fund in 2025, wrote a $1B check into Anduril the same year, its largest ever, and was closing a $6B successor fund in 2026.
Backs: Anduril, Palantir, Scale AI, Hadrian, Hermeus, Anthropic
The largest fund on this map. Its American Dynamism practice, launched in 2022 and run by Katherine Boyle, is an explicit thesis that startups should build for national security. Co-led Anduril's $5B Series H in May 2026.
Backs: Anduril, Shield AI, Hadrian, Saronic, Applied Intuition, Castelion, Skydio, Apex
Hemant Taneja runs it under a 'global resilience' thesis that groups defense with healthcare and energy. Backs Anduril, Saronic, Applied Intuition, Vannevar Labs, and Epirus.
Backs: Anduril, Saronic, Applied Intuition, Epirus, Vannevar Labs, Anthropic
Joe Lonsdale's firm. Early money in Anduril, Saronic, Epirus, and Chaos Industries. Lonsdale co-founded Palantir with Thiel, which makes 8VC and Founders Fund the two arms of the same original network.
Backs: Anduril, Saronic, Epirus, Chaos Industries, Second Front, Joby Aviation
Antonio Gracias's firm. Led Anduril's $1.48B Series E in 2022. Historically an early Tesla and SpaceX investor.
Backs: Anduril, Slingshot Aerospace, Defense Unicorns
Late to defense but now leading rounds in Mach Industries and Neros through partner Shaun Maguire. Leadership changed in November 2025: Roelof Botha stepped aside and Alfred Lin and Pat Grady became co-stewards, after a summer in which Maguire's posts cost the firm its COO.
Backs: Mach Industries, Neros, Anthropic
Backer of Scale AI, Skydio, and Chaos Industries. Less defense-branded than the others; these are portfolio bets rather than a thesis. Does not publish AUM.
Backs: Scale AI, Chaos Industries, Skydio, Govini, Anthropic
David Sacks's firm. Led Allen Control Systems' Series A, the company behind the Bullfrog autonomous gun turret, valued at $2.2B by June 2026. Also holds a stake in Anduril, which Sacks kept while serving as White House AI czar.
Backs: Anduril, Allen Control Systems
Not a private fund. A nonprofit venture arm created by the CIA and funded by the intelligence community. Backs Hermeus and Primer among many others. Its returns go back to the government.
Backs: Hermeus, Primer, Vatn Systems, HavocAI
A legacy prime's corporate venture arm. Backs Firestorm Labs. Shows the incumbents buying into the startups meant to displace them.
Backs: Firestorm Labs, Slingshot Aerospace, Vatn Systems, HavocAI, Rocket Lab
Small, specialist fund. Early in Shield AI and True Anomaly.
Backs: Shield AI, True Anomaly
The growth-software arm of Bain Capital, a $225B private-equity firm founded in 1984. Two funds so far, $1.3B in 2020 and $2.4B in 2023, with a third raising. No stated defense thesis; it arrived through two deals, a $150M investment in Govini in October 2025 and the $136M Series B it led for Defense Unicorns in January 2026, with David Petraeus among the co-investors.
Backs: Defense Unicorns, Govini
Lior Susan's 'physical industries' fund. Raised $1.3B across two funds in April 2026, its largest close. Frames defense as part of digitizing manufacturing and supply chains, and published an essay in 2025 arguing veteran-founded defense startups are essential to keeping ahead of China and Russia. Led Ursa Major's Series E and co-led True Anomaly's $650M Series D with Riot.
Backs: True Anomaly, Ursa Major
Not a venture fund. The private investment company of hedge-fund founder Louis Bacon, whose Moore Capital returned outside investors' money in 2019 and now runs only his own. Publishes no size, no thesis, and no partner is quoted on its deals. Led Second Front's Series A and Forterra's $238M Series C, and took part in Shift5 and Epsilon3 rounds. Included because it is the most frequent lead among the companies no venture fund on this map touches.
Backs: Forterra, Shift5, Second Front, Epsilon3