This episode will continue the theme of diving deeper into each of the 6 Recommendations I made for the Pentagon to take in order ‘meet the startups half-way’ and encourage growth and development. These steps will do two very important things, first off it will show founders who might be hesitant to build in defense technology that the government is taking steps to become more startup friendly, and it will show the VCs who invest their money, that the startups in defense tech have a chance and will make good investments.
Step #2 – Streamline the Procurement Process
I have several recommendations for improvements the Pentagon should make that will help simplify and expedite the bureaucratic procedures for startups to compete for government contracts and scale back the administrative burden until these startups reach a certain level of growth.
1. Contracting Roadmap: provide clear, concise, and transparent guidelines that help startups understand the procurement process. Clearly define eligibility and evaluation criteria, contract requirements, and timelines and simplify forms, applications and reporting processes.
2. Reduced Administrative Burden: streamline paperwork, documentation requirements, and compliance procedures, as well as simplify the forms, applications and reporting requirements for working with the government.
3. Accelerate Decision-Making: Implement processes to accelerate the lengthy decision-making process and reduce unnecessary bureaucratic delays.
4. New Acquisition Methods: develop and adapt new acquisition methods that prioritize flexibility adaptability and rapid prototyping.
5. Other Transactional Authority (OTA) Agreements: some of what we have recommended already exists in the OTA agreements, they provide streamlined procurement mechanisms with fewer regulatory constraints. OTA agreements need to be expanded so more startups are able to take advantage of them.
If you know any Defense Tech/Dual Use startups we should interview, please reply to this email and let us know!
Recent Fundings:
This section will cover recent raises by startups developing frontier and advanced technology in Defense & Aerospace, Cybersecurity, Drones & Robotics, AI/ML, Energy and Infrastructure.
Buzz Solutions: a seven-year-old startup that uses AI-powered insights and predictive analytics to detect faults and anomalies on power line assets and automates power line inspections by analyzing visual data points raised a $5M Seed.
Clumio: a seven-year-old startup that built an enterprise platform designed to simplify data protection on the cloud raised a $75M Series D led by Sutter Ventures, Index Ventures, Altimeter Capital and more. TechCrunch has more here.
Exclosure: a three-year-old startup that operates a space data center intended to provide Space Situational Awareness, Space Domain Management and Space Traffic Management raised a $1.6M Round.
Feon Energy: a two-year-old startup that builds batteries utilizing next generation electrolyte molecules to be more energy efficient at lower costs raised a $8.07M Seed.
Northwood: a one-year-old startup that develops and mass produces ground stations that provide an ultra-wideband gateway technology designed to enable satellite data transmission raised a $6.3M Seed led by Founders Fund, a16z, Also Capital and more. Data Center Dynamics has more here.
NUE: a five-year-old startup that builds portable battery & solar generators used in humanitarian crisis, military, medical and other industries raised a $1M Seed.
Rhombus Systems: an eight-year-old startup that develops enterprise security cameras designed to make workspaces and organizations more secure using AI and biometrics raised a $26M Series B led by Tru Arrow and Cota Capital. PR Newswire has more here.
Target Arm: a fourteen-year-old startup building a universal launch and recovery platform for unmanned aerial vehicles and drones, the platform can be mounted on any vehicle in the militarys’ arsenal to include tanks, helicopters and warships raised an undisclosed crowdfunded round.
Todyl: a nine-year-old startup that built a security platform designed to stop cybercriminals from stealing valuable data raised a $50M Series B led by Base10 Partners, Anthos Capital, Tech Operators and others. Yahoo Finance has more here.