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Defense AI

Smack Technologies Raises 1M Series B to Scale Tactical Edge AI for the Joint Force

Austin-based defense AI startup Smack Technologies has raised $61 million in a Series B funding round to accelerate deployment of its tactical edge decision systems across the U.S. military. The round was co-led by Costanoa Ventures and First In, with participation from Point72 Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Nomi Capital, Felicis, Sapphire Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Fortitude Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, and Palumni VC. The financing brings Smack's total capital raised to over $90 million and follo

axc
axc
2 min
Smack Technologies Raises 1M Series B to Scale Tactical Edge AI for the Joint Force

Austin-based defense AI startup Smack Technologies has raised $61 million in a Series B funding round to accelerate deployment of its tactical edge decision systems across the U.S. military. The round was co-led by Costanoa Ventures and First In, with participation from Point72 Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Nomi Capital, Felicis, Sapphire Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Fortitude Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, and Palumni VC.

The financing brings Smack's total capital raised to over $90 million and follows surging demand from defense branches seeking autonomous AI systems capable of operating under strict compute and connectivity constraints.

Deploying Decision Dominance to the Tactical Edge

Smack focuses on domain-specific artificial intelligence models designed for contested operational environments where continuous cloud connectivity is unavailable. Rather than relying on centralized datacenter API calls, Smack's Alpha platform processes tactical intelligence directly on localized hardware nodes at the forward edge of military operations.

Smack Technologies tactical edge architecture

According to co-founder and CEO Andy Markoff, the capital injection will be allocated toward manufacturing custom hardware to host the Alpha platform, broadening model coverage across multi-domain operations, and expanding research and engineering teams. The company aims to grow its headcount from 51 employees to approximately 85 by the end of 2026, up from 19 staff members in April.

Pentagon Procurement Tailwinds

The round reflects a broader shift within Department of Defense procurement strategies to diversify artificial intelligence vendors beyond primary hyperscaler providers. Following Pentagon directives earlier in 2026 to mitigate single-supplier risks in frontier model pipelines, services including the Navy and Marine Corps accelerated testing of specialized defense-native software.

In July 2026, Smack secured prototyping awards with the Joint Fires Network and the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab totaling seven figures. The systems assist commanders in synthesizing battlefield sensor streams, modeling operational courses of action, and automating decision loops across Joint Force commands.

Sources

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