Saronic Series B (2024)

US defense autonomous-surface-vessel maker (Austin TX; founded 2022; CEO [Dino Mavrookas](/people/dino-mavrookas)) of [USVs](/models/saronic-usv) (Corsair/Mirage/Marauder); $1.75B Series D at $9.25B (2026); new-defense AI-first maritime.

8VC is a venture capital firm investing in technology, defense, and logistics startups. Founded by Joe Lonsdale and partners from [Palantir](/companies/palantir-technologies)'s early team.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a Silicon Valley venture capital firm founded in 2009 by [Marc Andreessen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen) and [Ben Horowitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Horowitz). The firm manages over $90 billion in assets across venture, growth, crypto, bio, and American Dynamism funds. Its American Dynamism practice, co-founded by Katherine Boyle, invests in robotics, defense, and critical infrastructure companies including [Anduril](/companies/anduril), [Saronic](/companies/saronic), and Hadrian.

San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Raymond Tonsing. Caffeinated Capital leads seed and Series A rounds and invests throughout the life of technology companies, with a focus on deep tech, robotics, defense, and AI. The firm pioneered the single-partner fund model and has scaled to billions in AUM. Physical-AI portfolio investments include [Saronic](/companies/saronic) (autonomous maritime vessels, $600M Series C in 2025) and [Hadrian](/companies/hadrian) (AI-driven autonomous factories for precision components). The firm also backed Airtable and Virta Health. Partners include Raymond Tonsing (Founder & GP), Varun Gupta, and Nick Marwell.

San Francisco-based venture capital and advisory firm founded in 2012 by Dave DeWalt, former CEO of McAfee, FireEye, and Documentum. Focuses on growth and late-stage investments in the SecureTech ecosystem — cybersecurity, defense technologies, AI, [Quantum](/companies/quantum-systems) computing, and autonomous/dual-use systems. Closed a $750M growth fund (NightDragon Growth I) in July 2021 and operates the NightScale value-creation platform for portfolio companies.