Latest news with #JoshCarter
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
The Pentagon launched a military-grade Y Combinator, signaling that defense tech is officially cool on college campuses
The Department of Defense is scouting the next Palantir — and it's starting on college campuses. This week, the Defense Innovation Unit — the Pentagon's emerging tech arm — launched a university accelerator, open for applications through late June. The 12-week program will be a military-grade Y Combinator of sorts, offering early-stage startups funding, mentorship, and DoD connections. Fifteen teams spun out of US universities — working in AI, cyber, space, and more — will evenly split $500,000. The initiative builds on the National Security Innovation Network's earlier Emerge program, which also targeted college founders, according to DIU project manager Josh Carter. "Though its name has changed over the years, its mission remains the same: to help early-stage tech companies founded within the US university system engage with the DoD," he said in an email to Business Insider. It's also tapping into a growing appetite on college campuses for working in national security, in part fueled by geopolitical urgency and venture dollars flooding the space. Students at top colleges like Harvard and Stanford who once chased jobs at Google and Meta are increasingly eyeing Palantir — or even launching defense tech startups of their own. Beyond rising student interest, the accelerator also reflects growing investor intrigue in dual-use startups — ones building tech for both the battlefield and commercial buyers. The DIU believes this business plan gives startups a better shot at longevity. Having public and private sector applications, Carter said, gives startups "a better opportunity to achieve long-term sustainability and growth." A handful of scaling startups are already operating in both arenas. "The most promising companies will prove their product market fit in one end market — either commercial or government — and then leverage that success to break into the other," Mina Faltas, founder and chief investment officer of Washington Harbour Partners, told BI in an email. Hadrian, which is building automated factories that can make parts for hardware companies, especially those in aerospace and defense, raised $117 million in 2024 in a mix of equity and debt from investors including RTX Ventures, the venture arm of defense prime RTX, formerly Raytheon. CHAOS Industries, which develops a software platform for critical industries and defense, raised a $275 million Series C in May, co-led by New Enterprise Associates and Accel. And Scale AI, which provides AI heavyweights like OpenAI with training data, inked a contract with the Defense Department in March. Investors say that becoming dual-use doesn't just happen overnight. "Typically, startups focus first on selling to either commercial or government customers, since the execution of each lane is quite distinct," Faltas said. Jackson Moses, founder of defense tech fund Silent Ventures, said most dual-use startups only expand into a second market once they've matured. "Startups require early, narrow focus to succeed, and I prefer founders to focus on proper upfront market research and a single GTM strategy," he told BI in an email. "Some of the most successful dual-use defense plays organically achieve product market fit over a medium- to longer-term horizon, a function of strategy, execution, and patience." Moses has backed some such startups, including CHAOS. Others are still skeptical of the approach. Jake Chapman of national security-focused firm Marque Ventures says that the industry's obsession with dual-use can be a distraction for founders and investors. "Too many DoD problems are defense problems, not dual-use problems," he told BI in an email. "If we insist on directing all our early-stage support to dual-use companies, we turn defense tech startups into second-class citizens."
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Science Hill principal accepts central office post
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Science Hill High School will have a new principal at the helm for the 2025-26 school year. Johnson City Schools (JCS) announced on Tuesday that principal Josh Carter will move to the district's central office and fill the role of secondary supervisor. ETSU preps for start of hurricane season while reflecting on Helene Carter has worked at Science Hill for the last 26 years as an English teacher, assistant principal and principal. He has led the Hilltoppers as principal since 2021. While a teacher, Carter was named the 2009 Science Hill Teacher of the Year. 'With almost three decades of experience as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal at Science Hill, Dr. Carter brings a deep understanding of our students, staff, and community to this role,' Johnson City Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Greg Wallace said in a provided statement. 'His proven leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence make him uniquely prepared to support our district. We are confident that Dr. Carter will continue to elevate the work we do in Johnson City Schools.' In a news release from JCS, Carter said he is looking forward to his new role. 'I am excited and honored about the transition to secondary supervisor,' Carter said in a statement. 'I have loved my time at Science Hill and look forward to supporting the students, teachers, and administration in a different way.' A JCS spokesperson confirmed that the school district is in the process of searching for a new principal at Science Hill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
