Defcon AI Inc., a defense technology startup that provides logistics insights for military operations, said today it has raised $44 million in seed funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners to expand its team and build more capabilities.
In addition to Bessemer, Fifth Growth Fund and Red Cell Partners also joined the round.
Military organizations such as the U.S. Department of Defense, which contracts with Defcon AI, are faced with innumerable obstacles when deploying manpower and resources to the field. These could be issues such as hurricanes, washed-out roads and enemy action. All of this must be modeled and represented to get the best outcome when coordinating in the field where people and things need to move from point A to point B as efficiently as possible.
“At Defcon AI, we are developing powerful solutions to reshape response planning in contested and disrupted environments,” said Defcon AI co-founder and Chief Executive Yisroel Brumer. “We bring to the DoD our capacity to quickly field transformational software innovation so that defense leaders and planners have the tools they need to effectively coordinate operations and plan around disruptions.”
Defcon AI’s software provides cloud-based simulation and rehearsal data for various courses of action and replay of scenarios that can assist command in understanding what could happen during real-world missions. Using current information, it identifies vulnerabilities and strategies and suggests response analysis against possible disruptions. The solution also features “maximally effective” and “maximally efficient” configurations to allow its users to balance how to best approach a given operation.
The company received a $1.2 million contract in October 2022 from the U.S. Air Mobility Command to produce logistics training and simulation software. The AMC serves the U.S. Air Force as part of the U.S. Transportation Command to assist with moving people, machines and resources wherever they need to go.
“Few organizations can take high-end software engineering and artificial intelligence expertise and combine it with a deep understanding of battlefield and defense operational requirements to rapidly deliver the kinds of technology that the DoD needs, the way we can at Defcon AI,” said Retired Gen. Paul Selva, Defcon AI co-founder and chief strategy officer.
Although Defcon AI contracts with the U.S. defense industry, it also provides its core capabilities for the commercial sector as well to allow public and private entities to predict and respond to disruptions.
The company said that it will use the new funding to build out its team and enhance its research and development program to expand its dual-use offerings for both defense and commercial operations.