{"id":5696,"date":"2026-08-21T12:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5696"},"modified":"2026-08-21T12:07:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T12:07:49","slug":"how-silicon-valley-just-might-save-america-from-the-growing-drone-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5696","title":{"rendered":"How Silicon Valley just might save America from the growing drone threat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In June, Wior\u2019s firm raised $200 million, in a round led by Smash Capital, on the strength of its Bullfrog platform, which can respond to a drone threat in seconds by shooting them out of the sky with bullets. The Bullfrog system is light enough to mount on the back of a Toyota Tacoma and, most critically, it is scalable. Wior says ACS is currently cranking out 10 units a week and is poised to announce the opening of huge new manufacturing plants in Texas and Alabama that will let it ramp up to thousands of units a month.<\/p>\n

Read more America faces an affordability crisis like the one from 25 years ago, but needs a fresh solution<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bullfrog units are already making a difference in the Middle East theater where Iran has used cheap Chinese drones to kill American service members and blow up high tech kits worth billions of dollars. Their arrival also comes at a time when the U.S. has been using Patriot and Thaad missiles to counter drones\u2014an unsustainable tactic that has reportedly cost $4 million per shot<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The early phase deployment of a cheap and effective drone deterrent is encouraging news, but so too are recent procurement changes at the Department of War that have made it possible for startups like ACS to supply the military in the first place. Those changes include the introduction of online shopping forums such as the Army UAS marketplace, which was launched in partnership with Amazon\u2019s AWS, and that allows commanders to \u201cbuy and try\u201d drones from vetted vendors. There is also a similar site for counter-drone kit called C-UAS marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means you let the Army buy whatever they like, and let the best rise to the top rather than trying to pick winners ahead of time,\u201d says Wior. All of this suggests the U.S. could regain some of its military mojo by infusing Silicon Valley-style innovation into its warfighting capacities. When it comes to the drone situation, the country may have no choice.<\/p>\n

According to retired Brigadier General Houston Cantwell, who recently finished a fellowship at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the goals of the Pentagon\u2019s \u201cDrone Dominance Program\u201d\u2014which calls for the annual production of 200,000 American-made drones\u2014are laughable, and that China can easily outstrip that. He believes that focusing on making drone defense units is the way to go, and is cautiously optimistic about the recent changes to procurement policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one familiar with the DoD acquisition system is going to praise its agility but, in the last 18 months, the administration is starting to adapt,\u201d said Cantwell, pointing to the C-UAS site as a particularly promising example.<\/p>\n

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All of this could be good news for American security, but also for investors. Wior wouldn\u2019t share specific revenue figures but said ACS\u2019s revenue, which came in around $10 million last year, is set to be in the \u201clow nine figures\u201d for 2026. ACS and other startups that offer anti-drone solutions, including Anduril and DroneShield, aren\u2019t likely to go public for a while, but their shares are available on secondary platforms like Hiive and Forge.<\/p>\n

Would-be investors should, of course, take all of these companies\u2019 claims with a grain of salt, especially given recent talk of a defense tech bubble. If that\u2019s the case, their VC investors could get blown up\u2014hopefully just in the figurative sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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See you Monday,\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0@jeffjohnroberts
\u00a0jeff.roberts@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.<\/p>\n

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Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today\u2019s newsletter.<\/em> Subscribe here.<\/p>\n

Venture Deals<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Muon<\/b> Space<\/b>, a Mountain View and San Jose, Calif.-based developer of satellite constellations for defense, civil, and commercial customers, raised $250 million in Series C funding. <\/span>Eclipse<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Galvanize<\/b>, <\/span>Google<\/b>, <\/span>Salesforce<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Wellington<\/b> Management<\/b>,<\/span> I Squared Capital<\/b>, <\/span>Woven<\/b> Capital<\/b>, and existing investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>ALSO<\/b>, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of small electric vehicles and autonomous technology, raised $150 million in Series D funding. <\/span>Prysm<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Eclipse<\/b> Capital<\/b>, <\/span>Greenoaks<\/b>, and <\/span>MVP<\/b> Ventures<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Wall Street is bemused by Bessent\u2019s bond plan and the unwinding punt on the Japanese yen\u2014he\u2019s hinting he knows something the markets don\u2019t<\/a><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Callosum<\/b>, a London, U.K.-based AI and compute company, raised $100 million in seed funding. <\/span>Atomico<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Plural<\/b>, <\/span>DCVC<\/b>, and others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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– <\/span>Apollo<\/b> Atomics<\/b>, a Cambridge, Mass.-based nuclear reactor company, raised $31 million in funding. <\/span>FCVC<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Y<\/b> Combinator<\/b>, <\/span>Telesoft<\/b> Partners<\/b>, <\/span>Alumni<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Twin1<\/b> AI<\/b>, a San Mateo, Calif.-based AI platform designed to create digital twins for professionals, raised $20 million in seed funding. <\/span>Bessemer<\/b> Venture<\/b> Partners<\/b>, <\/span>Tribeca<\/b> Venture<\/b> Partners<\/b>, and <\/span>Aramco<\/b> Ventures<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Mafix<\/b>, a Seattle, Wash.-based developer of carbon-negative silicon fertilizers, raised $5.4 million in pre-seed funding. <\/span>Azolla<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Counteract VC<\/b>, <\/span>Astera<\/b> Institute<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Guideless<\/b>, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based AI software-training platform, raised \u20ac1 million ($1.2 million) in pre-seed funding. <\/span>Superhero<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>FIRSTPICK<\/b> and angel investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Private Equity<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>SEVA<\/b> Growth<\/b> acquired a minority stake in <\/span>Serif<\/b> Health<\/b>, a San Francisco-based health care price-transparency company. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

EXITS<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Continental<\/b> Resources<\/b> agreed to acquire <\/span>FireBird Energy II<\/b>, a Fort Worth and Midland, Texas-based oil and gas producer, from <\/span>Quantum<\/b> Capital<\/b> Group<\/b>. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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PEOPLE<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>IronArc Ventures<\/b>, an Austin, Texas-based venture capital firm, hired <\/span>Ashish<\/b> Aggarwal<\/b> as a Partner. Previously, he was with <\/span>Chamaeleon<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Mayfield<\/b>, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, hired <\/span>Adit<\/b> Singh<\/b> as a Partner. Previously, he was with <\/span>Cota<\/b> Capital<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Billionaire Jeff Bezos once asked Warren Buffett why so few people copy his strategy\u2014now he\u2019s backing $7 billion Liverpool FC<\/a><\/p>\n

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In June, Allen Control Systems raised $200 million on the strength of its Bullfrog platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-term-sheet"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Silicon Valley just might save America from the growing drone threat - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5696\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Silicon Valley just might save America from the growing drone threat - Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In June, Allen Control Systems raised $200 million on the strength of its Bullfrog platform.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5696\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-21T12:07:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=5696#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=5696\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"headline\":\"How Silicon Valley just might save America from the growing drone threat\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-21T12:07:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=5696\"},\"wordCount\":987,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=5696#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dea70921314eaa9e04519a96563b810f.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Term Sheet\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=5696#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=5696\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=5696\",\"name\":\"How Silicon Valley just might save America from the growing drone threat - 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