What they do:
Delivering AI-powered situational awareness in tactical environments.
Quick facts:
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States
Top Defense Startups
This list has 46 startups and was last updated on Oct 15, 2026. 14 of them are hiring right now. Biggest hubs: San Francisco (22), Los Angeles (5), and Austin (2). Largest teams: Onebrief, Icarus, and Isengard Industries Inc. Latest round: Onebrief raised $151M (Oct 14, 2026).
46 startupsPage 2 of 2
What they do:
The hardware-agnostic operating system for drone defense
Quick facts:
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States
What they do:
Submarine drones for defense
Quick facts:
What they do:
Making Defense Manufacturing Faster and Cheaper
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HQ: New York, NY, United States
What they do:
Deploying robots to replace workers in hazardous spaces
Quick facts:
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States
What they do:
Precision navigation for UAVs operating without GPS.
Quick facts:
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States
What they do:
Tankless Dive Gear - Breath Autonomy at Sea, Land & Space
Quick facts:
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States
What they do:
ApolloShield is a system that detects unwanted drones and drives them…
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YC S16Early stage
What they do:
Hyperscaling space manufacturing
Quick facts:
HQ: Los Angeles, CA, United States
YC F26Early stage
What they do:
AI-guided ballistic missiles, cheap enough to field in numbers that…
Quick facts:
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States
YC F26Early stage