Anduril’s Plan to Modernize the U.S. Military
The largest U.S. defense startup is led by California technologists and defense insiders. Its ambitions to reform Pentagon procurement and deliver war-winning weapons face structural challenges.
Anduril Industries is a rare example of a well-funded Silicon Valley startup both competing for contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and attempting to build new hardware products, especially drones. It was founded in 2017 by the technologist and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and a number of alumni of Palantir, the publicly-traded government data analytics company. To date, Anduril has raised at least $3.7 billion in funding and, as of February 2025, is seeking to raise an additional $2.5 billion at a valuation of $28 billion.1 This would make Anduril one of the most valuable private startup companies in the world. In 2024, Anduril reportedly hit annual revenues of about $1 billion.2 Headquartered in Orange County in southern California, the company is expanding rapidly and reportedly already employs over 3500 people.3 Anduril seeks to disrupt the slow and inefficient U.S. defense industry and build the cutting-edge technology the U.S. military needs to deter adversaries and win modern wars.