Latest news with #TraeStephens
CNBC
7 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Anduril co-founder Trae Stephens: No immediate plans to IPO
Trae Stephens, Anduril co-founder, joins 'Closing Bell: Overtime' to discuss competing with traditional defense firms, international expansion and defense tech.
Los Angeles Times
29-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Palmer Luckey's Anduril leads second quarter surge for venture capital in greater L.A.
Venture capital investments in the Greater Los Angeles region more than doubled to $5.8 billion in the second quarter, compared to a year ago, as investors poured money into the area's defense tech and aerospace companies amid escalating geopolitical tensions. Costa Mesa-based defense tech company Anduril received the most venture capital in the region last quarter, raising a $2.5-billion funding round, according to research firm CB Insights. The company, co-founded by entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, said it would use the money to invest in scaling up its production, hiring, taking big swings on products and capabilities and other efforts such as its mergers and acquisitions strategy. Anduril, which manufactures autonomous weapons systems, was recently awarded a $99.6-million contract to build a next generation command and control prototype for the U.S. Army that it says will help modernize communications on the battlefield. Anduril employs more than 6,000 people and has a valuation of $30.5 billion. Venture capital firm Founders Fund led the recent round with a $1-billion investment, marking the firm's largest check to date, said Founders Fund partner and Anduril executive chairman Trae Stephens in a Bloomberg TV interview in June. The company's recent fundraising round is an example of strong investor interest in defense tech and aerospace, which venture firms believe is ripe for disruption, with startups taking market share from incumbents such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Globally, venture capital investments in defense tech is on the rise. Already, the funding in this category has outpaced last year, according to CB Insights. For the first half of 2025, investors allocated $11.1 billion in venture capital to defense tech companies, compared to $8.2 billion in the full year of 2024, CB Insights said. Investors are eager to jump on an area of growth that has a lot of support from the government, as the U.S. enters a period in which defense and the geopolitical arena is at the forefront, analysts said. The world is being rocked by multiple international conflicts, including Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine and Israel's battle against Hamas in Gaza. 'We're entering an administration, a regulatory period, and a broader geopolitical arena where defense is at the forefront of everyone's minds,' said Jason Saltzman, head of insights at CB Insights. 'We're starting to see a lot of support from the government in particular, with an increasing number of investors hopping on the defense tech train.' Southern California, long an aerospace and defense tech hub, is benefiting from the investor interest, with the area's companies representing nine of the top 30 private businesses globally in defense tech that have received the most venture capital financing, according to CB Insights. Local companies said they were attracted to Southern California because of its strong talent pool, with nearby universities like Caltech and USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Going back to World War II and the Cold War period, key defense contractors like Northrop Grumman and Hughes were built in the South Bay area, making the region a crucial locale for the defense and aerospace industries, said Professor Dan Wadhwani, director of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the USC Marshall School of Business. As startups build new technologies, they will need to integrate them with other existing systems, he added. 'The proximity to key players within the defense industry makes L.A. a prime place for capitalizing on the growing trends towards defense spending,' he said. Last quarter, defense tech and aerospace companies represented the top four businesses receiving venture capital, according to CB Insights. Anduril led the way, followed by Redondo Beach-based Impulse Space, which raised $300 million, Hawthorne-based Chaos Industries that had a $275-million funding round and L.A.-based spacecraft manufacturer Apex, which raised $200 million in the second quarter, CB Insights said. Chaos Industries makes sensors and radars that provide warning and tracking against unmanned aerial systems, missiles and aircraft. The company, which has more than 100 employees, raised a total of $490 million since it was founded in 2022. The funding will go toward hiring and increasing the company's manufacturing capabilities, said Chief Strategy Officer Will Hurd. Hurd said he remembers when he worked at an investment bank in 2021 and no investors were interested in funding companies where the government was their client because there was a fear or lack of understanding of how that process worked. Now, that's changed and evolved, with a wave of defense tech and aerospace companies, including Chaos Industries. 'Now the adversaries have gotten more sophisticated, and we have to match that,' Hurd said. Impulse Space, which makes space vehicles, said there has been surging customer demand. The company said it has more than 30 signed government and commercial contracts worth nearly $200 million in value and the additional venture capital funding will go toward hiring, scaling production and accelerating its research and development. 'We've proven that we can build fast and fly successfully,' said CEO and founder Tom Mueller in a statement. 'Now, the market is demanding more.'
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pre-IPO Anduril Now Worth $30 Billion
Unicorn defense and AI stock Anduril hit its first $1 billion valuation six years ago. Today, Anduril is making $1 billion a year in revenue, its privately-owned stock has gone up 30-fold, and it wants to IPO. Anduril's a popular defense stock, but it costs far too much to justify buying. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Once upon a time, unicorn companies -- privately owned, but valued in excess of $1 billion -- were a rare breed. Lately, there seem to be whole herds of them. Take Anduril for example. The privately held artificial intelligence and defense company founded by Oculus VR inventor Palmer Luckey first hit the magic $1 billion private market value back in 2019. But Anduril didn't stop there. Growing steadily over the past half-decade, the privately traded defense stock last week raised $2.5 billion in new cash, and the company as a whole is now valued at $30.5 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg. That's a growth rate any investor would love to get a piece of. And while you cannot invest in Anduril stock yet, you might soon be able to. Because Anduril says it's going to IPO. Anduril Chairman Trae Stephens told Bloomberg his company aims to "scale into the largest problems for the national security community." Of particular note, Anduril recently took over a gigantic $22 billion Pentagon augmented reality contract from Microsoft. But Anduril needs cash to reach the scale it wants "to shore up the balance sheet and make sure we have the ability to deploy capital into these manufacturing and production problem sets that we're working on." Pre-IPO companies like Anduril have three ways they can do that. They can take out loans (at currently high interest rates). Or they can hold an IPO and sell their shares to public investors for cash. Or they can sell shares discretely, in a private stock offering. This last route is the one Anduril took, but in his interview with Bloomberg, Stephens made it clear he's not ruling out an IPO -- at all. "Long term we continue to believe that Anduril is the shape of a publicly traded company," said Stephens. "We're not in any rapid path to doing that [but] we're certainly going through the processes required to prepare for doing something like that in the medium term." Stephens and Luckey might want to shift that focus into the short term, however, because circumstances may never be better to make Anduril a popular IPO stock. It's been only a couple of weeks now since Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb, deploying more than 100 artificial intelligence (AI)-guided drones from trucks to attack airfields across Russia, causing billions of dollars' worth of damage to military assets -- apparently with no casualties -- for an investment measured in thousands of dollars. The memory of that mission hadn't even faded before Israel launched its own surprise attack on Iran, Operation Rising Lion, last week. While most headlines focus on the exploits of Israel's hundreds of fighter aircraft bombing military and nuclear targets in Iran, Israel's Mossad spy agency apparently also used drones and remotely operated weapons systems to great effect. These attacks weren't just reminiscent of Operation Spiderweb. They were reminiscent of Anduril's own artificial intelligence drone technology. With both successes fresh in investors' minds right now, there may be no better time to launch an IPO to capitalize on this free publicity. But let's not get irrationally exuberant here. What's good for Anduril isn't necessarily good for investors. As popular a stock as Anduril might be if it IPOs, that doesn't necessarily mean you should buy it. Consider what a $30.5 billion valuation means for a future publicly traded Anduril stock. According to Luckey, Anduril roughly doubled its 2023 revenue in 2024, making "about a billion" dollars in 2024 sales. The company isn't believed to be profitable yet, so that doesn't mean much in terms of P/E ratios. But it does mean that Anduril sells for a price-to-sales ratio of about 30.5. Compare that to alternatives in the "new defense tech" space. AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV), which up until about the time of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine was the biggest name in U.S. drone stocks, costs 7.4 times trailing sales -- one quarter of Anduril's valuation. And AeroVironment is a profitable defense stock, earning about $33 million last year. Karman Holdings (NYSE: KRMN), itself a recent defense stock IPO (that I've argued is also overpriced) is closer to Anduril's valuation at 17.3 times sales, but still only about half as expensive. And again, Karman is already earning profits. Don't even ask about more traditional defense contractors like General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, or Northrop Grumman. Combined, those three giants earned more than $13 billion last year, but their P/S ratios range from only 1.6 (GD and Lockheed) to 1.9 times sales. That's way cheaper than any of the new defense tech stocks, Anduril included, and with far longer track records of success. I'm not here to knock Anduril. As a company, I think it's pretty great, and a superb success story in American business. I have high (if cautious) hopes that Anduril might shake up an entrenched and overly concentrated defense industry that's basically made up of companies like General D, LockMart, and Northrop, and help the Pentagon to spend taxpayer defense dollars more wisely. I just don't think you should invest in Anduril stock. Not at today's valuation, at least. Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $377,293!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $37,319!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $659,171!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join , and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.*Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AeroVironment and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Pre-IPO Anduril Now Worth $30 Billion was originally published by The Motley Fool
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Anduril Cofounder Trae Stephens Is Now A Billionaire
Trae Stephens, also a partner at Founders Fund, ranked 19 on the 2025 Forbes Midas List. Last week, Anduril announced that it had raised a mega funding round led by Founders Fund, valuing the company at more than $30 billion, doubling its valuation in less than a year. The deal also minted a new defense tech billionaire: company chairman Trae Stephens. The Forbes Midas List alum, who is also a partner at Founders Fund — which led the round with a $1 billion investment, its largest ever — owns more than 3% of Anduril, according to Forbes' estimates, pushing his net worth beyond $1 billion. Stephens and Anduril declined to comment. Booming investor appetite for military startups has helped make Stephens the latest entrant to a group of billionaires who have built fortunes selling weapons systems to the government. His Anduril cofounder Palmer Luckey is worth $3.6 billion, Forbes estimates, while Alex Karp, the cofounder and CEO of military software firm Palantir is worth $11.9 billion. Since launching in 2017, Anduril has been at the forefront of a new generation of venture-backed startups making weapons, drones and software for the military — an ecosystem that is increasingly being embraced by the Trump administration. Last month, Anduril emerged as a frontrunner alongside SpaceX and Palantir to develop a weapons system for Trump's proposed $175 billion Golden Dome for America plan, which aims to combat missile threats. Stephens has taken an atypical route to becoming a Silicon Valley billionaire. After stints in multiple political offices and the intelligence community, he was an early employee at Palantir, which was cofounded by Peter Thiel. The famed investor convinced him to join Founders Fund in 2014 as a partner. There, he met Luckey during a retreat hosted by the investment firm, and the two developed the idea behind Anduril: applying a Silicon Valley strategy to a military-facing business. At Founders Fund, Stephens has also backed other defense tech companies, including Gecko Robotics (valued over $600 million), which makes hardware and software to protect defense infrastructure, and Varda Space Industries (valued more than $500 million), which tests drugs and manufactures things like fiber optic cables in space. He also led the series A funding round into supply chain logistics startup Flexport (most recently publicly valued at $8 billion). That 'check that I wrote was maybe the best one, aside from' Anduril, he previously told Forbes. Beyond Anduril and Founders Fund, Stephens, who ranked No. 19 on the 2025 Midas List, also is the cofounder of Sol, a startup making eyeglasses with Kindle-style lenses for "immersive reading' that last raised a seed funding round led by YC Combinator chief Garry Tan in 2023. Stephens, who previously worked on President Donald Trump's transition team during his first term, was also considered for a senior Defense Department role this year, but it didn't materialize (citing one source, Semafor previously reported that some administration officials were concerned about Stephens' investments; Stephens declined to comment at the time). At Anduril, which generated $1 billion in revenue last year, Stephens is aiming to scale up production of its suite of military products. The company, which sells drones, augmented reality helmets, sensors and software to connect them, raised $1.5 billion last year to build a factory in Ohio, called Arsenal-1, to rapidly scale up its production of aerial and maritime drones. And last month, Anduril announced it was partnering with Meta to make an AI-powered headset for the military. The fresh $2.5 billion in funding, a series G round, will also be used to acquire new companies, and expand operations in Australia and Europe, spokesperson Shannon Prior told Forbes last week.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Anduril Industries raises $2.5bn funding, valuation hits $30.5bn
Anduril Industries has closed a $2.5bn funding round, significantly increasing its valuation to $30.5bn. The defence technology company aims to establish itself as a key player in the American national security sector. This funding round was led by Founders Fund, with a $1bn investment, marking the largest check in the venture capital firm's history. As per a filing with the SEC, Founders Fund finalised a $4.6bn late-stage venture fund in April 2025. The company's valuation has surged from $14bn in 2024, according to Anduril executive chairman Trae Stephens in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Anduril, based south of Los Angeles, focuses on technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence to enhance American defence capabilities. Anduril offers a range of products, including weaponised drones, software for drone control, and augmented reality helmets for military use. The importance of defence technology is underscored by recent events, such as the Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian military assets, highlighting the role of technology in modern warfare, reported the media outlet. Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, who previously co-founded Oculus VR, emphasised the need for the US to accelerate drone development to remain competitive with China. The company is also working on new infantry goggles for the US Army, a project potentially valued at over $20bn in the next decade. The recent funding follows a $1.5bn funding raise in 2024, aimed at constructing a factory in Columbus, Ohio, called Arsenal-1. This facility will mass-produce aerial and maritime drones, sensors, and other defence products. Additionally, Anduril has announced a partnership with Meta Platforms to develop AI-powered military products, including helmets. "Anduril Industries raises $2.5bn funding, valuation hits $30.5bn" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Errore nel recupero dei dati Effettua l'accesso per consultare il tuo portafoglio Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati
