Founders: Brian Schimpf (CEO), Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, Joseph Chen
Launched: 2017
Headquarters: Costa Mesa, California
Funding: $11.8 billion
Valuation: $61 billion
Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, deep neural networks/deep learning, generative AI, machine learning
Industry: Defense
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 4 (No. 1 in 2025)
The outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war has once again put a spotlight on how technology is disrupting modern combat, and the challenges that still remain.
Just days into the war, the U.S. used up a reported $5.6 billion in munitions. At the same time, Iran was able to wreak havoc on military bases and data centers with swarms of low-cost Shahed drones that cost between $20,000 and $50,000, according to public estimates.
"We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with $2 million missiles," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in December. "And we ourselves must be able to field large quantities of capable attack drones."
That juxtaposition between costly aging military assets and the push to reindustrialize warfare has led to a renaissance for disruptive defense tech firms; a charge being led by Anduril and joined by other 2026 Disruptors including Shield AI, Saronic and Applied Intuition. The four-time Disruptor 50 company has used that momentum to expand its reach across a variety of battlefields.
It is also being reflected in investors' view of the company's prospects. In June 2025, Anduril raised $2.5 billion at a $30.5 billion valuation. Last week, it doubled that valuation in a $5 billion round.
Last year, Anduril launched eight products, including Seabed Sentry, an autonomous undersea surveillance network, and Fury, an autonomous air vehicle that had its first flight in October, marking the first semi-autonomous flight of a fighter aircraft in history.
Anduril is also setting its sights on space. In March, the company acquired missile tracking and intelligence firm ExoAnalytic Solutions, its first acquisition for its space business.
That is just one part of its efforts to land future contracts for U.S. President Donald Trump's $175 billion defense system dubbed the "Golden Dome," aiming to protect the U.S. from missile threats and rebuild deteriorating U.S. military systems.
But all of that comes as founder Palmer Luckey continues to stress the message that in many ways led to the founding of Anduril: that defense spending can be more efficient, and that contractors should be incentivized for moving quickly and innovating, not the opposite.
"Too many people measure the success of the defense base in terms of dollars," Luckey told CNBC in February.
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