12 Defense & GovTech companies raised a combined $277.4M across 3 pre-seed, 6 seed, 3 series a. Tracked daily from announcement. Founder contacts and growth signals included.
- Starcloud raised $170M in Series A funding at a $1.1B valuation, instantly reaching unicorn status as a space infrastructure startup at a moment when orbital compute demand is accelerating.
- Akhil co-founded Ulysses in Dublin in 2023 before relocating the company to San Francisco to scale maritime autonomy
- Mike Vichich previously built and sold Wisely to Olo for $200M and is back for a second startup with Pursuit, this time targeting public sector procurement.
The Defense & GovTech sector saw 12 funding rounds tracked on FundedStartupsDaily this year, totalling $277.4M. The median round sits at $7M, with 75% of activity at pre-seed and seed stage and the remaining 25% at Series A and later. Pre-Seed rounds dominate, accounting for 25% of all Defense & GovTech activity in 2026.
Geographically, Defense & GovTech funding is concentrated in United States, which accounts for 7 of the 12 raises (58%). The remainder is distributed across other regions tracked by FundedStartupsDaily.
The largest Defense & GovTech round in 2026 is Starcloud's $170M series a, led by Philip Johnston. Defense & GovTech activity accelerated through Apr, when raises jumped to 6 announcements.
Every entry on this page is sourced from public funding announcements, then enriched with founder LinkedIn handles, company websites, and growth signals. If you're a founder, operator, salesperson, or recruiter tracking Defense & GovTech, this page updates every weekday with new rounds.
| # | Company | Stage | Raised | Founder / CEO | Region | Signals | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M2 Foundry m2foundry.com | Pre-Seed | Undisclosed | Catherine Havasi Co-Founder | United States | Pre-Seed Deep Tech Second-Time Founder | |
| 2 | Apollyon Dynamics apollyondynamics.com | Pre-Seed | $480K | Jayant Khatri Co-Founder & CEO | India | Pre-Seed Deep Tech Hardware | |
| 3 | Pursuit pursuit.us | Series A | $22M | Mike Vichich Co-founder & CEO | United States | Series A Second-Time Founder AI-Native | |
| 4 | SkyfireAI skyfire.ai | Seed | $11M | Don Mathis CEO & Co-founder | United States | Seed Hardware AI-Native | |
| 5 | Octostar octostar.io | Seed | $6.8M | Giovanni Tummarello Co-founder & CEO | Ireland | Seed Deep Tech AI-Native | |
| 6 | Ulysses ulysses.co | Series A | $38M | Akhil Voorakkara CEO & Co-founder | United States | Series A Deep Tech Hardware | |
| 7 | Stendr stendr.com | Pre-Seed | $5.4M | Aleksander Leonard Larsen Co-founder & CEO | Norway | Pre-Seed Defense & GovTech Hardware | |
| 8 | Octostar octostar.com | Seed | $7M | Giovanni Tummarello Co-founder & CEO | Ireland | Seed Defense & GovTech AI-Native | |
| 9 | Octostar octostar.ai | Seed | $6.7M | Giovanni Tummarello CEO & Co-founder | Ireland | Seed Enterprise B2B | |
| 10 | Starcloud starcloud.com | Series A | $170M | Philip Johnston Co-founder and CEO | United States | Series A Deep Tech Hardware | |
| 11 | Airbase airbase.us | Seed | $5M | Ari Rosner CEO & Co-founder | United States | Seed AI-Native B2B | |
| 12 | Airbase airbase.com | Seed | $5M | Thejo Kote Founder & CEO | United States | Seed Deep Tech Enterprise |