defense-startup
(5)
ZeroMark, Inc.
ZeroMark is a New York-based defense technology company building an AI targeting layer that turns ordinary infantry weapons into precision counter-drone systems. Its flagship Apex is a rifle-mounted, software-defined fire control system that uses electro-optical cameras, LiDAR and machine-vision ballistics to physically adjust a soldier's aim in real time, letting a dismounted operator hit small, fast-moving drones without specialist training. Founded in 2022 by former U.S. Navy servicemember and ex-MongoDB executive Joel Anderson, ZeroMark has raised roughly $7M in seed funding led by Ground Up Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, followed by a 2025 strategic round, and has demonstrated its system in a U.S. Marine Corps live-fire exercise.
Chariot Defense
Chariot Defense is a South San Francisco defense-technology company building hybrid-electric power systems for the battlefield. Its Amphora platform delivers quiet, high-density, software-controlled power to distributed military hardware - drones, sensors, radios, electronic-warfare and directed-energy systems - so that energy never becomes the limiting factor in a fight. Founded in 2024 by former Anduril and Archer engineer Adam Warmoth, the company raised a $34M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz in February 2026, bringing total funding to roughly $41-42M, and has fielded its systems with the U.S. Army and the Defense Innovation Unit.
David Tuttle
David Tuttle is the cofounder and CEO of Rune Technologies, an Arlington-based defense software company building TyrOS, an edge-first, AI-enabled predictive logistics platform for military and contested environments. A former U.S. Army field artillery officer who deployed to Afghanistan, he later worked in aerospace and defense investment banking, led software teams within the JSOC enterprise at Fort Bragg, and ran command-and-control hardware work at Anduril before co-founding Rune in 2024 with Peter Goldsborough. He still serves in the National Guard. Rune raised a $24M Series A in July 2025 (over $30M total), and TyrOS has been deployed with U.S. Army and Marine Corps units.
Even Rogers
Even 'Jolly' Rogers is the co-founder and CEO of True Anomaly, the first company built exclusively around space superiority for U.S. national security. A former Air Force space operations officer and Weapons School graduate who helped write the U.S. military's foundational space doctrine, he left uniform and 12 days later started building autonomous spacecraft and mission software for combat in orbit. Under his leadership True Anomaly raised a $650M Series D in April 2026 at a $2.2B valuation, crossing $1B in total funding.
Nathan Mintz
Nathan Mintz is the co-founder and CEO of CX2, an El Segundo defense-tech startup building AI-enabled hardware and software to detect, disrupt, and destroy threats in the electromagnetic spectrum. A Stanford-trained electrical engineer who spent 14 years designing radar and electronic-warfare systems at Raytheon and Boeing, he went on to co-found directed-energy unicorn Epirus and automotive-radar company Spartan Radar before launching CX2 in 2024. He argues modern warfare has reached 'consumer scale,' where multimillion-dollar missiles are wasted on cheap drones, and that control of the spectrum now matters as much as supply lines did in the 20th century. CX2 raised a $31M Series A led by Point72 Ventures in May 2025, part of $46M total funding.