Defense Tech Investment

Defense Unicorns Achieves Unicorn Status with $136M Series B Funding

• ByStartupStory     |    January 14, 2026

In a significant milestone for the defense technology sector, Defense Unicorns has successfully closed a $136 million Series B funding round. This latest investment officially pushes the San Antonio-based startup’s valuation past the $1 billion mark, making it a “unicorn” in both name and financial status.

The funding, announced on January 13, 2026, underscores a shifting landscape in national security, where software speed and secure delivery are increasingly viewed as a “strategic deterrent” on par with traditional hardware.

Modernizing the “Department of War”

Founded in 2021 by veterans Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy, and Andrew Greene, Defense Unicorns focuses on a critical vulnerability in modern warfare: the “air-gap.” Military systems—from submarines and fighter jets to forward-deployed tactical drones—often operate in environments with zero internet connectivity.

While commercial software updates occur in seconds, military systems often lag months or years behind due to security protocols. Defense Unicorns bridges this gap with its Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS), allowing for:

• Secure Air-Gapped Updates: Deploying modern code to systems that are physically and logically isolated from the internet.

• Zero-Downtime Patching: Updating mission-critical systems without taking them offline during active operations.

• Standardized DevSecOps: Providing a “software backbone” that allows the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force to use a unified, secure pipeline.

“Defense Unicorns gives our nation a wartime software advantage. We make software a strategic deterrent by making it easy to deploy and operate software in any mission environment.” > — Dr. Rob Slaughter, CEO of Defense Unicorns

Strategic Backing & Participation

The Series B round was led by Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities Fund. The investment also saw participation from a high-profile group of growth investors and national security experts, including:

• Ansa Capital

• Sapphire Ventures

• Valor Equity Partners

• AVP & Uncorrelated Ventures

• David H. Petraeus (Retired U.S. Army General and former CIA Director)

Bain Capital Partner Dewey Awad noted that the investment reflects software’s vital role in military readiness, specifically in helping modernize legacy systems that directly impact resilience in the field.

Road to Scale: UDS Registry & Tactical Edge

The new capital is earmarked for the further expansion of Defense Unicorns’ core product suite, which has seen a 300% increase in adoption year-over-year:

Product	Focus Area
UDS Core	The flagship portable runtime for packaging and sustaining mission apps.
UDS Registry	An “App Store” for warfighters to download verified, secure software on-demand.
UDS Army	A standardized pipeline to accelerate secure, mission-ready software to soldiers.

Follow Startup Story