Defense software, cyber and aircraft highlight the week in venture rounds

Defense Unicorns

This veteran-owned defense technology company has fetched $136 million in Series B capital to support the further development and scaling of its airgap software for national security mission systems.

Defense Unicorns was co-founded in 2021 by CEO Rob Slaughter, Chief Technology Officer Jeff McCoy and Andrew Greene. The company specializes in delivering, installing and updating software in environments that are isolated from external networks such as the public Internet.

Submarines, ships, aircraft and forward operating bases are examples of locations Defense Unicorns touts its software as working in.

The company will use this newfound investment to advance its product development efforts in areas such as software delivery, supply chain security and Army missions.

Bain Capital led the Series B round that also included participation from Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures and former CIA director David Petraeus. This round pushes Defense Unicorns’ touted valuation past $1 billion, the company said.

JetZero

This airplane maker pushing to develop an “all-wing” commercial aircraft has hauled $175 million in a Series B capital round that included Northrop Grumman and the venture investment arm of RTX.

JetZero was co-founded in 2020 by CEO Tom O’Leary and veteran aerospace executive Mark Page. The company is eyeing 2027 for the first flight of its blended-wing body demonstrator, which the company is touting as a more fuel-efficient and low-carbon alternative versus today’s typical aircraft.

The U.S. government is placing some bets on JetZero’s progress. In 2023, JetZero booked a $235 million Air Force contract to build and fly a variant of its Z4 aircraft.

Then in 2025, NASA selected a JetZero-SHZ Advanced Technologies team to analyze and design new storage and distribution solutions for aircraft.

B Capital led the Series B round, which the venture funds of 3M and United Airlines also participated in.

OneBrief

This company focused on the operating systems for defense technology has fetched $200 million in Series D capital, less than one year after its $50 million Series C round, and used the newfound investment to make an acquisition.

OneBrief was co-founded in 2019 by CEO Grant Demaree and Chief Technology Officer Rafa Pereira to simplify and automate defense workflows, including operational planning and other strategy-related exercises.

The startup is looking to further iterate and scale its platform as a foundational piece of command operations, including simulation and live decisions.

OneBrief’s acquisition centers on Battle Road, a designer of simulation and gaming technology for military leaders. OneBrief plans to integrate Battle Road’s digital offerings into its larger ecosystem.

Battery Ventures and Sapphire Ventures led the Series D round, which included new participation from Salesforce’s venture investment arm. General Catalyst and Insight Partners are continuing on as existing investors.

SkyFi

This Earth intelligence technology company has collected $12.7 million in Series A capital to aid its pursuits of more partnerships with satellite operators, from which SkyFi aggregates data into an analytics offering.

SkyFi was co-founded by CEO Luke Fischer and owner Bill Perkins to develop an aggregated view of satellite imagery via a web platform and mobile app, in which individuals and organizations can analyze complex satellite imagery.

SkyFi today touts a network of 50 geospatial partners that supply optical, synthetic aperture radar, hyperspectral and aerial imagery.

Buoyant Ventures and IronGate Capital Advisors led the Series A round. New participation came from DNV Ventures, TFX Capital, Beyond Earth Ventures, Nova Threshold and Chris Morisoli. Existing investors RSquared VC and J2 Ventures will continue on.

SkyFi will also use the new capital to expand its data offerings and artificial intelligence-enabled analytics posture, which the company sees as applicable for government and commercial customers alike.

Torq

This cybersecurity startup has captured $140 million in Series D capital to support the further development of its flagship security operations center platform for federal and public sector organizations.

Torq was co-founded in 2020 by CEO Ofer Smadari, Chief Technology Officer Leonid Belkind and Chief Innovation Officer Eldad Livni. The company touts its SOC offering as designed with AI agents embedded in to help manage complex security tasks autonomously.

That approach essentially turns the platform into one with a self-service model, where security teams can build and deploy agents for handling sophisticated assignments.

Merlin Ventures led the Series D round and is also working with Torq to navigate the government market’s compliance landscape, including the FedRAMP cloud security authorization program.

All existing investors are continuing their involvement: Evolution Equity Partners, Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Ventures Partners and Greenfield Partners.