The valuation of U.S. defense technology startup Anduril Industries doubled in a year to $61 billion (about 91 trillion won).
According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 13th (local time), Anduril raised $5 billion (about 7.45 trillion won) in a funding round led by venture capital (VC) Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). As a result, the company was valued at $61 billion. Considering that its valuation was about $30 billion in Jun. last year, it doubled in a year.
Anduril is a corporations co-founded by Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, a Virtual Reality (VR) device subsidiary that the Facebook parent Meta acquired in 2014, and former Palantir staff. The company grew rapidly by touting artificial intelligence (AI)-based autonomous defense systems and military drones.
As global military expenditure increased in recent years due to intensifying geopolitical conflicts, Anduril also won defense contracts targeting the U.S. Ministry of National Defense (War Department) and governments of major countries. As a result, Anduril's revenue last year was $2.2 billion (about 3.28 trillion won), up twofold from the previous year.
In the United States, it was selected as a participating corporations in the $185 billion Golden Dome missile defense system pushed by President Donald Trump, and also won a long-term contract with the U.S. Army worth up to $20 billion. The U.S. Ministry of National Defense on the same day signed a contract with four corporations, including Anduril, to purchase more than 10,000 low-cost hypersonic missiles over the next three years. Centered on its Arsenal-1 weapons plant under construction in Ohio, Anduril plans to mass-produce a range of advanced weapons, including the Fury autonomous combat aircraft and drones.
Anduril is also expanding cooperation with Korea corporations such as HD Hyundai, Korean Air Lines, and Hyundai Rotem.
Anduril Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Schimpf said the funds raised this time will be invested in "manufacturing capabilities, research and development (R&D), and the infrastructure needed to produce and deploy advanced defense systems at scale."