Anduril Industries, a defense technology startup aiming to take on large U.S. contractors like Lockheed Martin Corp., is raising a new round of funding that will more than double the firm’s valuation to between $4 billion and $5 billion, two people familiar with the talks said.
The Irvine, Calif.-based startup, valued at $1.9 billion last July, has been winning contracts with U.S. agencies such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection with its artificial intelligence–powered hardware. It will likely use the new money to further expand into making military gear such as drones. In a sign of keen investor appetite, shares for Anduril in the secondary market have reached an implied valuation of $6 billion, according to people with knowledge of the secondary-market deals.
