Andril, a military start-up of artificial intelligence, is destined to complete a new tour of funding that would double the value of the company at $ 28 billion, according to four people who are familiar with the negotiations.
The financing round, led by Founders Fund and is not yet closed, is collecting up to $ 2.5 billion, said people. The founders of the only one plans to invest $ 1 billion, the largest check ever written by the company, said two people.
Andril designs and builds autonomous systems and weapons for military agencies and other government agencies, including flying drones, missiles, submarine ships and surveillance equipment for monitoring both national borders and the battlefield. It is one of a new wave of companies that build systems based on artificial intelligence technologies for the government.
The founders, launched by the entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel, supported Andril since his start in 2017, and one of the Andril co-founders, draws Stephens, is a partner of the company. Thiel, who also co-founded Palantir, a military technology company, has long been a supporter of the Republican candidates, including President Trump in 2016 and JD Vance’s race for the Senate in 2022.
Six months ago, Andril has collected $ 1.5 billion with an evaluation of $ 14 billion.
The founders refused to comment. The CNBC reported the details of the financing interviews for the first time.
The last influx of liquidity comes when the start-ups of defense technology are ebullient about their perspectives. The enthusiasm for the construction of technology for the US military has grown in recent years in Silicon Valley, a reversal of over a decade of avoiding these contracts. In 2018, thousands of Google employees signed a letter that protested for the company’s military contracts.
That resistance has moved slowly, since more risk capital companies pay money in the sector.
Mr. Trump should be further investment turbo. Palmer Luckey, founder of Andril, supported the president since his 2016 campaign. He gave Mr. Trump to the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections to the campaigns of Mr. Trump and hosted rates.
On the night of the presidential elections of November, Luckey published a meme that celebrates the victory of Mr. Trump. Elon Musk, the technological manager and a close councilor of the President, replied, saying that it was “very important to open DOD/Intel to entrepreneurial companies like yours”.
In January, Mr. Luckey and Andril announced their intention to build a factory of $ 1 billion in Ohio which eventually would have produced tens of thousands of autonomous systems and weapons every year.