Defense Unicorns, a provider of software delivery technology for disconnected and high-security environments, said it has raised a $136 million Series B round led by Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities fund, pushing the company past a $1 billion valuation.
The veteran-owned company said the financing reflects rapid, profitable growth and a sharp increase in adoption across military mission systems, citing a 300% year-over-year jump. Defense Unicorns positions its platform as core infrastructure for securely deploying and updating software in “air-gapped” environments—settings where systems are intentionally isolated from the internet or where connectivity is limited, such as submarines, ships, aircraft, and forward operating bases.
Defense Unicorns’ flagship platform, Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS), is designed to help organizations package, deploy, monitor, and sustain software updates in disconnected environments while meeting strict security and compliance requirements. The company said its approach is intended to shorten the time it takes to deliver new capabilities to operational systems and to help modernize mission software across the U.S. military and allied forces.
Alongside Bain Capital, the Series B included participation from Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, AVP, Uncorrelated Ventures, and David H. Petraeus, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the company.
Defense Unicorns said it plans to use the new capital to scale and integrate open-source and commercial dual-use technology across defense users and to advance product development across multiple UDS offerings. Those include the core UDS runtime platform, a purpose-built software registry designed for mission-critical environments, and an initiative it calls UDS Army, aimed at accelerating the delivery of secure software to soldiers by pairing DevSecOps pipelines with pre-authorized cloud environments.
Founded in 2021 by Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene, Defense Unicorns said its technology is used by operators of critical systems across the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Space Force.
KEY QUOTES:
“Defense Unicorns gives our nation a wartime software advantage. The U.S. has significant commercial software advantages, but the systems we go to war with are typically outdated. At Defense Unicorns, we make software a strategic deterrent by making it easy to deploy and operate software in any mission environment.”
Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO, Defense Unicorns
“We are thrilled to support Defense Unicorns as it works to ensure that U.S. service members have access to the most advanced, secure, and rapidly deployable software possible. Defense Unicorns plays a vital role in helping the military modernize mission systems, enabling capabilities that directly improve readiness, resilience, and operational advantage in the field.”
Dewey Awad, Partner, Bain Capital Tech Opportunities
“We’ve been proud to partner with Defense Unicorns since the Series A, and our continued investment reflects the conviction we’ve built watching the team execute against an incredibly complex and mission-critical problem. What Rob and the team have built is foundational infrastructure for modern defense, and this next chapter only reinforces the scale of impact ahead.”
Marco DeMeireles, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Ansa Capital
“Before UDS, there was no open, secure, and airgap-native modern software delivery capability for warfighters. More than just a piece of software, UDS is an entire open ecosystem of tools and technologies purpose-built to securely bring capabilities to the field faster. I’m grateful for the incredible teams at Defense Unicorns that continue to evolve UDS to bring even more technical advantage to our nation’s heroes.”
Jeff McCoy, Co-Founder and CTO, Defense Unicorns
