国防科技热潮可以说始于俄罗斯入侵乌克兰，四年来，著名的硅谷风险投资公司Benchmark首次押注于一家纯粹的国防初创公司。
Four years into the defense tech boom that arguably began when Russia invaded Ukraine, the storied Silicon Valley venture firm Benchmark is placing its first bet on a pure defense startup.
该风险投资公司正在牵头投资2500万美元的种子轮投资Furientis，这是一家致力于大规模生产拦截导弹的初创公司。这家公司成立仅一年，其名字在拉丁语中的意思是“愤怒”，就已经获得了五角大楼的资助合同，用于建造中程拦截弹。
The VC is leading a $25 million seed round into Furientis, a startup on a mission to mass-produce interceptor missiles. Just one year old, the company—whose name means “of fury” in Latin—has already secured a funded Pentagon contract to build mid-range interceptors.
Furientis的种子轮是在5月份宣布的500万美元预种子轮之后进行的。据一位知情人士透露，该初创公司目前估值为1.25亿美元。
Furientis’ seed round follows a $5 million pre-seed that was announced in May. The startup is now valued at $125 million, according to a person familiar with the company.
直到最近，风险投资家还基本上避开了国防初创公司。该行业的投资被认为在道德上存在争议，而且获得政府合同的过程过于漫长且不确定，无法证明风险投资是合理的。
Until recently, venture capitalists largely steered clear of defense startups. Investments in the sector were viewed as morally controversial, and the process of securing government contracts was too lengthy and uncertain to justify venture funding.
但在乌克兰和伊朗的冲突开始耗尽美军的导弹供应后，这种情绪迅速发生变化。那些证明自己能够快速且经济地制造设备的初创公司现在真正有机会在加快的时间轴内获得五角大楼合同。
But that sentiment changed rapidly after conflicts in Ukraine and Iran began to deplete the U.S. military’s missile supply. Startups that prove they can build equipment fast and affordably now stand a real chance of landing a Pentagon contract on an expedited timeline.
基准普通合伙人Chetan Puttagunta告诉TechCrunch：“他们仅通过种子前一轮就取得了非凡的成就。”“他们只花了500万美元就制造了原型。当我们投资时，他们已经成功进行了发射。”这种效率与传统防御型企业使用的缓慢、高成本的开发模式形成鲜明对比。这家初创公司的速度是由其联合创始人推动的，他们带来了多年的航空航天和国防工程经验。
“What they accomplished with just a pre-seed round was nothing short of remarkable,” Benchmark general partner Chetan Puttagunta told TechCrunch. “They manufactured prototypes with just $5 million. They had already successfully done launches by the time we invested.”That efficiency is in stark contrast to the slow-moving, high-cost development models used by traditional defense primes. The startup’s velocity is driven by its co-founders, who bring years of aerospace and defense engineering experience.
Brody Franzen在加入Castelion之前曾担任Virgin Galactic的副总工程师，Castelion是一家价值130亿美元的高超音速导弹初创公司，而Aris Simsarian此前曾在Virgin Orbit领导火箭发动机测试。
Brody Franzen served as deputy chief engineer at Virgin Galactic before joining Castelion, a hypersonic missile startup valued at $13 billion, while Aris Simsarian previously led rocket engine testing at Virgin Orbit.
弗兰岑告诉TechCrunch，两人在意识到美国军方面临“精致”导弹严重短缺（每枚售价约300万美元）后发射了Furientis，以应对廉价的对手威胁。
The duo launched Furientis after realizing the U.S. military is facing a severe shortage of “exquisite” missiles, which can cost around $3 million each, to counter inexpensive adversary threats, Franzen told TechCrunch.
弗兰岑表示，美国海军每年仅接收300至500枚拦截导弹，而中国声称每月生产3，000枚反舰巡航导弹。
According to Franzen, the U.S. Navy receives a mere 300 to 500 interceptor missiles annually, compared to China, which claims a production rate of 3,000 anti-ship cruise missiles a month.
“我们的产量比我们高出100多倍，”他说。“这就是我们创办这家公司的原因。”Furientis的目标并不是要达到一流导弹拦截器的性能;相反，它正在设计和制造其系统，以便可以用现成的组件快速组装它们。因此，每个装置的成本只是传统拦截器的一小部分，对于迫切希望在严格的预算限制内扩大库存的五角大楼来说，这是一个令人信服的价值主张。
“We’re being outproduced by a factor of 100 plus,” he said. “That is why we started the company.”Furientis is not aiming to match the performance of best-in-class missile interceptors; instead, it is designing and manufacturing its systems so they can be assembled quickly from readily available components. As a result, each unit costs a fraction of legacy interceptors, a compelling value proposition for a Pentagon desperate to scale inventory within strict budget limits.
与雷神公司和洛克希德·马丁公司等传统国防精英公司因设计周期过长而陷入困境不同，富里安蒂斯公司每两周在实地测试其导弹。该初创公司的最终目标是每年在每个工厂生产1，000个系统。但目前，这家年轻的公司正在洛杉矶的工厂内工作，并将其原型带到新墨西哥州白沙进行试验。
Unlike traditional defense primes such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, which are bogged down by long design cycles, Furientis has been testing its missiles in the field on a bi-weekly basis. The startup’s ultimate goal is to manufacture 1,000 systems a year in each factory. But for now, the young company is working out of its facility in Los Angeles and taking its prototypes for trial launches to White Sands, New Mexico.
鉴于这种需要，富瑞安蒂斯并不是唯一一家致力于帮助政府补充库存的公司。弗兰岑表示，Anduril、Castelion和Shield AI等大型国防初创公司也在竞相制造批量生产的拦截器，而传统的顶级公司则争先恐后地实现自己的制造周期现代化。
Given the need, Furientis is not the only company working on helping the government restock its stockpiles. Franzen said that larger defense startups like Anduril, Castelion, and Shield AI are also racing to build mass-produced interceptors, while traditional primes scramble to modernize their own manufacturing cycles.
Benchmark的Puttagunta并没有对看似拥挤的空间感到困扰。他说：“我认为这个行业还有更多的公司有机会。”
Benchmark’s Puttagunta is not fazed by the seemingly crowded space. “I think there’s opportunity for lots of lots more companies in this sector,” he said.