Silicon Valley tech startups are booming as war changes

A wave of defense technological startups in Silicon Valley draws billions of financing and reshaping of American national security.

Andundil Industries, recently estimated at $ 30.5 billion after its last financing cycle, is among the so -called “neoprimes” – companies contesting the domination of inherited entrepreneurs, nicknamed “premiums”, like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing,, General dynamicAnd RTX (Formerly Raytheon).

“There is more money than ever to what we call the” neoprimes “” Jameson Darby, co-founder and director of autonomy at Investment Syndicate Milvet Angels, or MVA, told CNBC. “It is always a fraction of the overall budget, but the trend is very positive.”

Other examples of technological defense startups contesting operational operators include SpaceX and PALANTOUT Technologiessaid Darby, who is also a founding member of the Defense Ministry’s defense innovation unit.

Unlike prime numbers, these startups are faster, thinner and first in software-many of which to build things that can help fill “critical technological gaps that are really important for national security,” said Ernestine Fu Mak, co-founder of MVA and founder of Brave Capital, a venture capital company.

The funding of the company for technological startups of defense based in the United States has totaled around $ 38 billion in the first half of 2025 and could exceed its peak of 2021 if the pace remains constant for the rest of the year, according to JPMorgan.

While the World War Landscape has changed in recent decades, the American Ministry of Defense has identified several technologies which are essential to national security, including hypersonics, energy resilience, space technology, integrated detection and cyber.

“In a world after September 11, the entire Ministry of Defense has actually focused on … World War against terrorism. They are our military fighters against insurgents, guerrillas, an asymmetrical war, relatively low fighters in most cases,” said Darby.

But the war today is more focused on “high power competition,” said Mak.

“The emphasis is more on deterrence and competition with (opponents) in these very high multi-domain conflicts,” added Mak. “The battlefield is changing and new technologies are necessary … War is no longer limited to land, sea, air. There are also cyber and spatial domains that have become disputed.”

Today, some of these “neoprimes” of Silicon Valley are developing not only weapons, but also double -use technologies which can be applied both commercially and by soldiers.

“Thus, things like artificial intelligence and autonomy have wide and radical commercial applications, but they are also clearly a force of strength in a military context,” said Darby. “(The) War Department assesses and quickly adopts these double -use technologies … They send signals to the world of investment, at the industrial basis of defense, that the American government needs these things.”

This direction of the government in turn provided a clear and strategic roadmap for investors and entrepreneurs, said Mak.

On September 17, MVA came out of the stealth mode after quietly supporting certain technical defense of the defense startups since 2021.

Today, MAK claims that the 250 members of the union include founders of technology, Wall Street financiers, business leaders, intelligence officials, former military leaders and Navy Seals. Together, they invested in companies like Andundil Industries, Shield AI, Hermeus, Ursa Major and Aetherflux.

“Overall, we believe that” neoprimes “cannot exist in the abstract. They need people – people who bring technical expertise, who have a deep sense of mission, and who contribute to complementary voices and talents. Together, this coalition forms what we combine and calling the” new guard “, said Mak.

She added that modern national security requires both the “insight of the warrior on the battlefield” and the manufacturer’s “reader for innovation”.

“Work with committed and informed patriots whose participation strengthens our defense ecosystem and strengthens the very fabric of national security,” said Mak.

Mak and Darby both agree that when new technologies develop and go to the battlefields on a global scale, this changes the way the military is fighting, which can also constitute new threats.

“You see these technologists, these manufacturers … Building Defense Tech, and the reason why they do, is not to initiate conflicts, but rather to create a credible means of deterrent that discourages the attack,” said Mak.

“No one in defense technology is trying to wage war, he rather seeks to dissuade him and want the opponents to reflect twice before threatening peace and stability,” added Mak.