Defense Unicorns—a software startup that develops open-source software and AI capabilities for National Security systems—announced it had raised a $35 million Series A funding round led by Sapphire Ventures and Ansa Capital.
Created by early leaders of the Department of Defense’s software factories—a grassroots Air Force initiative turned mandate for accelerating secure and agile software development practices—Defense Unicorns enables continuous delivery of software and AI applications in any environment. More notably, the company’s technology can deploy to air-gapped environments—environments typically disconnected from the internet.
Utilizing Defense Unicorns’ solutions, national security systems can quickly adopt modern technologies wherever the mission happens, whether in space, undersea, or elsewhere. The growing defense budgets reflect demand for these capabilities as the Department’s funding for IT and cyber, including efforts like cloud adoption and software modernization, is set to increase to over $58.5 billion in FY24, with an additional $1.8 billion specifically planned for AI and machine learning.
Rooted in the founders’ beliefs in data independence, the company solves the technical hurdles that prevent the delivery of working AI and software tools through a suite of open-source projects they have created. These include:
1.) Zarf – A tool that enables continuous software delivery on disconnected networks.
2.) LeapfrogAI – A self-hosted generative AI platform designed for disconnected environments with limited processing and storage.
3.) Pepr – A tool for managing and modifying resources in a Kubernetes cluster using easy-to-read and write configuration modules.
4.) Lula – A tool that provides real-time insight into the configuration and compliance of deployed software to help accelerate and maintain accreditations.
Defense Unicorns currently offers three core capabilities as a service: Your App Your Environment (YAYE), Software Factory and AI for National Security. To date, Defense Unicorns has deployed its AI for National Security capability across several classified environments, providing a suite of critical Generative AI features, including translation, transcription, and summarization to support U.S. military operations across the globe.
The company was also awarded a $300 million Department of Defense-wide contract to accelerate software and GenAI solutions in classified and air gap environments and has supported dozens of programs across the U.S. Air Force and Navy with its Software Factory platform. And in the coming year, the company will use this initial round of funding to enhance and expand its mission-focused capabilities.
KEY QUOTES:
“The global landscape has changed. To compete, the U.S. military must integrate and deploy new technology at speed. We know this. But from firsthand experience, it’s still nearly impossible to deploy desperately needed capabilities on any mission-relevant timeline. Outdated technology, diverse compute environments, and the complexities of security and compliance standards have caused an unacceptable time lag, placing our country at risk for future conflicts. At Defense Unicorns, we create software to solve the unique challenges experienced by the government.”
– Rob Slaughter, CEO and Co-Founder of Defense Unicorns
“Driven by a number of factors, including a rise in global conflict and the DoD’s recognition of its technological shortcomings, defense tech has never been more important for U.S. National Security. One of the companies leading the charge in helping the DoD modernize its software stack is Defense Unicorns. I’m proud to partner with Rob and the Defense Unicorns team as they help revolutionize defense tech, providing practical, scalable solutions to complex technology problems that will have a generational impact.”
– Jai Das, President and Partner at Sapphire Ventures
“Over the last decade, the US Government has emerged as one of the largest consumers of technology, globally, with information, data and software increasingly becoming key points of leverage on and off the battlefield. Today’s servicemen and women desire an ability to seamlessly deploy and update cloud-native applications—with or without an internet connection—and leverage the latest in AI technology, but often lack the technology infrastructure to do so. Having stood up Platform One, the first DoD-wide approved managed DevSecOps platform, Rob and his team are best suited to solve this immense and complex challenge. I’m looking forward to joining the Board as we work towards our shared mission of enabling all agencies to better leverage modern software and methodologies.”
– Marco DeMeireles, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Ansa Capital
