A growing share of new US defense capability comes from venture-backed companies that did not exist ten years ago: autonomy software, drones, satellites, rocket motors, shipyards and factories. Information about them is scattered across press releases, contract announcements, paywalled databases and social posts. We put it in one place, free to read, with a source behind every figure.
Who we cover
Privately held startups and scaleups headquartered in the United States, founded in 2010 or later, that build defense or dual-use technology: autonomy and AI software, drones and counter-drone systems, space and ISR, hypersonics and propulsion, munitions, maritime systems, ground robotics, advanced manufacturing, electronic warfare, sensors and communications, cyber, training and simulation, and materials. Large primes and public companies appear in our news coverage, not in the directory.
Methodology
- Sources first. Funding rounds, valuations, investors and contracts come from company announcements, government sources such as contract notices, regulatory filings and established outlets. Each profile lists its sources.
- Confidence labels. Where a figure rests on a single report, or sources disagree, the profile says so.
- Totals are estimates. Few companies publish cumulative funding. Where we add up announced rounds, the profile says so.
- Dates. Every profile shows when it was last checked. The current dataset was verified on November 14, 2026.
Open dataset
The directory is published as an open dataset: download it as CSV, one row per company with a link to its sourced profile. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0): you can reuse it, including commercially, with the attribution "America Defense Tech" and a link to www.americadefensetech.com.
Articles
Articles are written and checked by the America Defense Tech Desk against primary sources first: company releases, Department of Defense (DoD) contract announcements, SEC filings and official program pages, then established press. Every article lists its sources and shows its publication and update dates.
Corrections
If a figure is wrong or out of date, use the correction form. Company representatives can claim their profile, and we verify claims through an email from the company's own domain.
Independence
Companies cannot pay to be listed or to change what we report. We are a media and data platform: we do not offer, sell or arrange investments, and nothing on this site is investment advice.
Publisher
America Defense Tech is published by MT Advertising LLC, which also publishes Europe Defence Tech, its sister directory for Europe.