Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz move to co-lead roughly $4 billion for Anduril, putting autonomous drones, AI battle management and hyperscale defence manufacturing in focus as private markets push valuations towards the $60 billion range.
This week, Merifund Capital Management tracks Anduril Industries as it pursues roughly $4 billion in fresh capital from Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, a round that on current terms puts the defence technology company on track to approach a $60 billion valuation.
The company’s most recently disclosed Series G financing prices Anduril at $30.5 billion, and the renewed push for capital highlights how venture-backed defence platforms are now drawing late-stage cheques that resemble the scale and pace of top-tier cloud financings.
Anthony Saunders, Director of Private Equity at Merifund Capital Management Pte. Ltd., calls the scale “a referendum on defence autonomy as an investable category, where capital allocators treat production-ready systems as essential infrastructure rather than speculative hardware”.
Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are positioned as co-leads, with Lux Capital and Founders Fund also part of the syndicate as the raise takes shape. The disclosed funding history shows Anduril raising about $6.3 billion across six rounds since launch, with the Series G round bringing in $2.5 billion and featuring a $1 billion Founders Fund commitment, while investor demand runs about 8x the available allocation for that round.
For Merifund Capital Management, the more telling signal sits in who is willing to write the next cheque and what that implies for procurement-scale execution. Saunders frames the emerging playbook as “venture capital learning to price defence the way it prices software, with underwriting built around delivery cadence, unit economics and a path to repeatable production”.
Industry forecasts reinforce why investors are willing to underwrite at this level. Global autonomous defence systems generate about $17.3 billion in the latest completed annual reporting cycle, with projections pointing to $48.6 billion by 2033, implying 13.1% compound annual growth across that horizon. The Defence Innovation Unit’s Replicator initiative allocates $500 million in its most recently published fiscal cycle to accelerate non-traditional autonomous capability.
Anduril’s valuation narrative is anchored in a product suite that blends autonomous hardware with software-defined command and control. The ALTIUS-700M loitering munition platform is marketed with a 33-pound payload class, a 100-mile range and a 75-minute flight duration in its latest disclosed configuration, and recent testing at Dugway Proving Grounds records direct hits across six missions without a system failure. On the software side, the Lattice AI battle management platform is designed to process data from thousands of sensors and effectors, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses Lattice for autonomous detection and tracking across land and maritime domains.
Operational risk still shapes underwriting as systems move from test ranges into electronically contested environments. Air Force evaluations at Eglin Air Force Base include two ALTIUS failures, one involving a descent from 2,438 metres, while field reporting from Ukraine flags electronic warfare interference affecting Ghost reconnaissance systems. Saunders characterises the investment lens as “less about the existence of setbacks and more about how quickly the organisation closes the loop, because battlefield reliability is what turns innovation into repeatable orders”.
A large portion of the capital story is tied to manufacturing scale. Arsenal-1, a hyperscale facility planned for Columbus, Ohio, requires close to $1 billion of company investment and spans 5 million square feet at full build-out, with designs aimed at producing tens of thousands of military systems annually and creating about 4,000 direct jobs once fully ramped. Initial production lines are scheduled to enter the facility within the coming quarters, with collaborative combat aircraft workloads expected to be among the early drivers of volume.
Cash and revenue expectations matter as investors test how far private markets can carry defence companies. Management planning points to $800 million to $900 million of cash burn across the ongoing fiscal period, supported by about $750 million of cash disclosed as of the most recently reported quarter. The business reports roughly $1 billion of revenue over its latest full-year results, with internal targets aiming for about $2 billion over the next annual cycle.
Merifund Capital Management’s assessment focuses on whether the next phase of defence technology investment rewards software-driven autonomy alone, or the combination of autonomy and industrial output that reshapes supplier economics. Saunders sees the differentiator as “manufacturing velocity built on commercial supply chains and simplified processes, which is how a new entrant competes with legacy primes on speed and cost”.
About Merifund Capital Management
Merifund Capital Management Pte. Ltd. (UEN: 201024554E) is a Singapore-headquartered hedge-fund manager established in 2010, running traditional long-only asset and portfolio management mandates alongside long/short equity, global macro, event-driven and systematic trading strategies. The firm uses derivatives to optimise opportunity capture while emphasising capital preservation, liquidity and prudent risk management, and integrates ESG considerations in line with recognised sustainability standards. It serves accredited investors, family offices, foundations and endowments, and is expanding its platform to include retail investors. Insights are published at https://merifund.com/insights. Media enquiries may be directed to Tao Yang at media@merifund.com or via https://merifund.com.
