Booz Allen Hamilton announced that its venture arm, Booz Allen Ventures, has invested in Ulysses, a San Francisco-based developer of autonomous surface and underwater vehicles.
The investment strengthens Booz Allen’s position in maritime autonomy, a rapidly growing area driven by demand for scalable, cost-efficient unmanned systems. The partnership is expected to enhance the firm’s ability to deliver integrated solutions for defense and commercial missions, including mine countermeasures, multi-vehicle swarming operations, and high-risk maritime environments.
Ulysses is focused on building high-volume, cost-effective autonomous platforms designed to operate in complex ocean conditions. Its systems combine specialized hardware with advanced onboard computing to enable adaptive, mission-driven autonomy across both surface and undersea environments.
The collaboration reflects a broader shift toward autonomous systems in maritime operations, where traditional approaches often rely on crewed vessels with high operational costs. By leveraging Ulysses’ technology, Booz Allen aims to expand its offerings to include more scalable and flexible solutions for infrastructure inspection, environmental monitoring, and search and recovery missions.
The investment is part of Ulysses’ Series A funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism fund, and marks Booz Allen’s first investment in the maritime sector. It also represents the firm’s first co-investment alongside Andreessen Horowitz since announcing a partnership earlier in 2026 to accelerate adoption of advanced technologies across national security domains.
Booz Allen Ventures, launched in 2022, focuses on early-stage investments in areas including artificial intelligence, defense technology, cybersecurity, space, and advanced industrial capabilities. The fund expanded to $300 million last year as part of the company’s broader strategy to support emerging technologies aligned with national and commercial priorities.
The move underscores increasing interest in dual-use technologies that can serve both defense and commercial markets, particularly in domains where autonomy and robotics are expected to play a critical role in future operations.
KEY QUOTES
“Maritime forces need affordable and scalable systems undersea. That demand will require us to build and field autonomous undersea platforms that can be integrated with the Navy’s future hybrid fleet. Together, Ulysses and Booz Allen can provide advanced technology solutions for the undersea domain at speed, scale, and cost.”
Jennie Brooks, Executive Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton
“The ocean is the last great frontier. Every other domain, land, air, space, has seen a revolution in access and capability in the past two decades. The ocean hasn’t. Operating at sea still means crewed vessels at tens of thousands of dollars a day, and most of the ocean goes completely unmonitored as a result. We’re building autonomous systems that change that equation by orders of magnitude, vehicles that can survey, inspect, and protect our oceans at a scale that’s never been possible.”
Akhil Voorakkara, Co-Founder And CEO, Ulysses
“This investment reflects our commitment and conviction that maritime autonomous systems will be a defining domain for years to come in building and ensuring maritime dominance. By backing dual-use, venture-backed startups like Ulysses, we are expanding our portfolio into robotics and autonomy and building capabilities that enable deployment at speed across sea, air, and land.”
Brian MacCarthy, Managing Partner, Booz Allen Ventures
“Our partnership with Booz Allen was built on a shared conviction that the best commercial technology should reach the missions that need it most. Ulysses is exactly the kind of company we had in mind, a bold team building critical capabilities at the intersection of autonomy and maritime defense. Seeing this investment happen in parallel with Booz Allen is a proof point that our collaboration is already delivering.”
Jen Kha, Head Of Global Partnerships, Andreessen Horowitz
