Anduril just hit a $90 billion valuation in an employee tender offer. The defense tech startup builds autonomous weapons systems and border surveillance towers. Investors cannot get enough of companies that make things designed to explode or track humans.
President Trump wants to reindustrialize the U.S. military. This means writing checks to private companies instead of doing it the old way, which was also writing checks to private companies but with different logos. Anduril stands to benefit because they ship products that actually work, a concept so foreign to defense contracting it qualifies as disruptive innovation.
The company started in 2017. Seven years later it's worth more than Lockheed Martin's market cap in 2008. Retail traders who bought Palantir at $45 thinking they were getting defense tech exposure just learned there were better options. They will not learn from this. They never do.
A $90 billion valuation means Anduril is now worth more than Delta Airlines, more than Ford, and significantly more than the combined net worth of everyone who posts rocket emojis under defense stock tweets. The tender offer lets employees cash out early, which is Silicon Valley speak for "we know the IPO window is closed so here's some liquidity before you realize this job consumed your thirties."
The defense tech boom continues because wars have not gone out of style and the Pentagon finally figured out that agile software companies can build drone systems faster than legacy contractors can schedule the kickoff meeting to discuss building drone systems. Anduril proved this model works. Now they're getting paid like it.
Your cousin who works in cybersecurity and won't shut up about his RSUs just found out his entire grant is worth less than what an Anduril engineer made from selling 2% of their stock position in this tender offer.
Photo by on Unsplash
Leave a Comment