【AI前沿】Anduril raises $5B, doubles valuation to $61B

Another year, another massive influx of capital for Anduril: The funding round thatwas rumored to be in processin March has officially closed. Anduril has raised a $5 billion Series H round at a $61 billion valuation, led by returning investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, the companyannouncedWednesday.This is more than double the valuation it landed just under a year ago, whenit raised $2.5 billion at a $30.5 billion valuationled by Founders Fund. (Founder’s Fund invested a $1 billion check, the largest check it has ever written, it told TechCrunch at the time.)This latest raise comes after the nine-year-old defense tech company doubled revenue in 2025 to $2.2 billion, CEO Brian Schimpf wrote in the blog post announcing the raise.Interestingly, as much as Anduril is the clear-cut winner among VC investors, the Department of Defense is already giving signs that it won’t lock itself into any one rising-star startup.Shield AI, another U.S. drone company, recently had itssoftware selectedby the Air Force to work with Anduril’s “Fury” autonomous fighter jet, rather than granting the whole hardware and software contract to either one of them.Still, Anduril is hardly hurting by sharing. In the past few weeks, it has announced a number of contracts, expanding outside the U.S., too.In May it announced it was part of a contract with others to develop a space-based“golden dome”defensive system — a missile defense shield designed to protect the continental U.S. — for America. Anduril also announced a contract win from the Dutch Ministry of Defence and a U.S. Army contract for battle manager software, using its Lattice platform to analyze data from joint missile defense systems.“When we founded Anduril in 2017, defense was not a category that attracted significant venture investment. That has changed meaningfully over the last several years,” Schimpf wrote in the post.It has. To offer just a few recent examples: In March, Shield AI raised $1.5 billion in Series G funding at a $12.7 billion valuation. Last month, Hermeus, maker of hypersonic unmanned fighter jets,raised $350 million at a $1 billion+ valuation, led by Khosla Ventures. And European defense tech darlingHelsing is reportedly close to raising a new $1.2 billionround at about an $18 billion valuation, led by Dragoneer and earlier Helsing investor Lightspeed.Anduril has now raisedmore than $11 billionfrom investors altogether.Topicsanduril,defense tech,Fundraising,StartupsWhen you purchase through links in our articles,we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.Julie BortVenture EditorJulie Bort is the Startups/Venture Desk editor for TechCrunch.You can contact or verify outreach from Julie by [email protected] via@Julie188on X.View BioMay 27Athens, GreeceStrictlyVC Athens is up next. Hear unfiltered insights straight from Europe’s tech leaders and connect with the people shaping what’s ahead. Lock in your spot before it’s gone.REGISTER NOWMost PopularAI voice startup Vapi hits $500M valuation after winning Amazon Ring over 40 rivalsJagmeet SinghAmazon launches 30-minute delivery across the USSarah PerezFintech startup Parker files for bankruptcyAnthony HaLaid-off Oracle workers tried to negotiate better severance. Oracle said no.Julie BortSan Francisco’s housing market has lost its mindConnie LoizosCloudflare says AI made 1,100 jobs obsolete, even as revenue hit a record highJulie BortUS defense contractor who sold hacking tools to Russian broker ordered to pay $10M to former employersLorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai