By Krystal Hu, Anna Tong and Kenrick Cai
(Reuters) -AI-powered defense startup Anduril Industries is in talks for a new funding round that could hike the valuation of the Palmer Luckey-founded company to $28 billion, sources said on Friday.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund is set to lead the round, which could be as much as $2.5 billion, according to the sources, signaling strong appetite from investors in this fast-growing defense tech company. The round would come only months after its last raise of $1.5 billion at a $14 billion valuation in August.
Founders Fund has been a backer of Anduril since its start in 2017, and one of Anduril’s co-founders, Trae Stephens, is a partner at the firm.
Founders Fund declined to comment on the funding, which was first reported by CNBC.
Anduril, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, develops autonomous weapons across a wide variety of sensors, including drones. The company announced last month it plans to build a large-scale weapons plant in central Ohio, as it uses funding to invest building out manufacturing capabilities.
In 2023, the startup launched its Lattice for Mission Autonomy, an AI-enabled software to collaborate with teams of autonomous systems during missions under human supervision.
Before Anduril, Luckey is credited with founding virtual reality company Oculus VR, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2.3 billion.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance invested in Anduril during his previous career as a VC investor, and still hold stakes in the company, according to his filings.
Thiel, who also co-founded military technology company Palantir, has been a longtime Republican donor, including backing President Donald Trump’s first successful run in 2016 and Vance’s run for Senate in 2022.
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru, Mike Stone in Washington and Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and William Mallard)
