Venture to DefenseTech Growth: Capital Commitment Halo Effect

Gecko Robotics, a defense industry technology company, creates robots to assess the safety and condition of critical infrastructure and personnel, recently raised over $100 million in a Series C capital.

The new round of investment capital was led by some of the largest names in the industry — the US Innovative Technology Fund and Founders Fund, both groups will be taking board seats.

The new round comes just after the startup landed a contract with the U.S. Navy to use its technology to assess damage as it builds submarines. Founded in 2013, the company has raised over $222 million.

This round is the latest big round of venture capital funding to go to a defense tech startup as VCs are experiencing a massive interest from those outside the traditional defense industry.

In a similar example, rocket propulsion startup Ursa Major added another $38 million to its previously reported $100 million Series D — bringing its total Series D and D-1 funding to $138 million.

Defense startup Shield AI raised $200 million in Series F and weighs in at $2.7 billion valuation.

Defense tech numbers are impressive: for U.S.-based defense tech startups the 2023 year has resulted in over $700 million total invested.