11/07/2023

Company Profile: Anduril Industries

Introduction:

Founded in 2017, Anduril Industries addresses border control in a revolutionary way. The company has provided a 21st-century replacement for the simple and outdated methods of vehicle patrols and strategically placed fences. They provide the hardware and the software that combine to elevate the sophistication and the dependability of how we surveil the border. Central to all of Anduril’s functions is, of course, Artificial Intelligence (AI). Their Lattice platform receives computer vision data (i.e., what its cameras see from high vantage points) and integrates other information from third parties.

Mesh Networking

They also employ “mesh networking”, or collaborative input from a swarm of other drones within a network, establishing a massive “mesh” covering a wide area. All of this is blended and interpreted through machine learning to provide a seamless level of real-time situational awareness to which human personnel can quickly react. If an unauthorized border crossing is in progress, Lattice will inform the user if the violator is an individual, a group of people, an SUV, or an animal.

Lattice Platform

The Anduril hardware that uses the Lattice platform is equally impressive. Their Autonomous Surveillance Towers (ASTs) are infused with AI, eliminating the need for a human operator to run them. Apart from this kind of autonomy, they are energy efficient, powered by the sun. They are semi-portable and easily deployed. Most important, they are an effective and stable means of keeping an eye on things at ground level, feeding a constant overview at Lattice’s unmatched standard of quality. This is why congress has allocated more than $1.5 billion for the systems over the past two years.

Drone

Anduril’s Ghost 4 is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, or, a drone) that is built like a helicopter as opposed to a four-bladed quadcopter. It operates at much lower decibels than virtually any drone available commercially and, naturally, it comes complete with Lattice-enabled AI. The Ghost 4 is durable, waterproof, and light enough to be carried and deployed manually. It covers a wider area than the ASTs do, of course, especially when it is cooperating with other Ghost 4s to construct a detailed and comprehensive picture.

Anduril Anvil

Then there’s the Anduril Anvil. The company’s website describes the Anvil’s function as such: “Cued by Lattice, Anvil navigates autonomously to intercept potential drone threats and provide visual feedback for positive identification by a human operator. Once authorized, Anvil uses physical speed and onboard terminal guidance to deliver kinetic energy to the threat with minimal collateral damage”. In layman’s terms, the Anvil is like a flying robotic pit bull that mercilessly smashes other drones into smithereens on command and then lands without a scratch. Watch it in action in this video and it will almost certainly be the coolest thing you see today.

Border Protection

Anduril’s usefulness is certainly not limited to border protection. The broader safety needs of all branches of the military are efficiently addressed over millions of acres of land and sea with Anduril’s ASTs, Ghost 4s, and Anvils. Private-sector critical infrastructure providers within the energy, oil & gas, utilities, and transportation sectors require uncompromised attention to security, and Lattice-enabled surveillance can accomplish that task masterfully. The software is, of course, customizable to suit the needs of the specific entity or client being served.

Silicon Valley Elite

Much like the massive big-data firm Palantir Technologies, Anduril is named for an item found in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Whereas a “Palantir” was a kind of “seeing stone”, the “Anduril” was a sword. The connection probably isn’t entirely accidental. Anduril founder Palmer Luckey is among the truly elite in Silicon Valley, having launched the revolutionary Oculus VR headset at the tender age of nineteen, selling the company to Facebook for $3 billion a couple of years later, and then parting ways with the social media giant amidst some ideological incompatibility. When he co-founded Anduril in 2017, he did so alongside Palantir executives Matt Grimm, Trae Stephens, and Brian Schimpf. Indeed, with numerous lucrative government contracts and mind-boggling technology aimed at security, both companies are often brought into association with each other.

Defense Startups

For decades, very few defense-based startups have risen to challenge established incumbents like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Without a track record of big government contracts off the starting blocks, most of the larger VCs have passed on the newer companies, assuming that the returns would not match the windfalls to which they were accustomed. In under four years, though, Anduril’s narrative has been different. Whether or not Luckey’s standing as a Trump booster has made a difference, Anduril benefited from several important deals during that administration from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the United States Marine Corps. This could have been the catalyst to inspire some well-known VCs like Founders Fund, 8VC, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz to take a large stake in Anduril. The contracts might have been the event that broke the chicken-or-the-egg stalemate that made VC money hard to attract. Perhaps Anduril’s potential for gaining clients across diverse commercial fields made them more appealing for those who avoid pure defense plays. Whatever the case might have been, Anduril raised $1.48 billion in a new Series E round in December 2022, hoisting the young company’s valuation to $8.48 billion. The momentum of this growth in five years simply cannot be ignored. Security threats are evolving faster than the DoD can keep pace with.

Optimo Capital

Anduril’s shares are not available for purchase on any stock exchange. It is a private company, much to the chagrin of those who pay close attention to technological advancements in our nation’s security. Optimo Capital has recently had the good fortune of taking a stake in this promising company in limited supply, and it is confident that it will be able to furnish many more investments in the coming weeks and months.

Optimo Capital has direct access to this company (no multiple layers) and have around $3.75m remaining on offer at the stated valuation.

Anduril Valuation:

Senior Analysts value this company at around $50 per share in less than 3 years from now.

Accredited investors only.

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