How we evaluate opportunities.
We evaluate every opportunity through a consistent set of criteria. Each one reflects something we believe matters for durability in the defense ecosystem — for the company, for its customers, and for the capital behind it.
Exposure to funded programs and real missions — or a credible path to them.
We look for demand that is durable: programs of record, recapitalization cycles, or urgent capability gaps with funding behind them. The mission, not the narrative, is the demand signal.
A clear seat in the supply chain.
Upstream infrastructure, downstream infrastructure, or product company — we want to know exactly whom a company serves, who depends on it, and what breaks if it isn't there.
Dual use, contracted, multi-program, or mission-sticky demand.
Every company we back has a commercial market that exists with no defense budget. Backlog and contract visibility matter. We prefer exposure across multiple programs and customers over single-program concentration, and demand that requalifies rarely once earned.
Qualifications that take years to earn.
Certifications, security clearances, qualified-supplier status, regulatory posture, and niche know-how. In this ecosystem, the moat is the qualification cycle a competitor would have to survive.
Builders who deliver to spec.
Operator and technical founders who understand their customer's constraints and have earned its trust. Veterans are welcome here — but the bar is delivery, not biography.
We size capital to what the company needs.
Product companies early and smaller, built into a core position before the priced round. Upstream businesses with larger checks, and asset-backed debt where the equipment supports it. Downstream software early, where a small check buys real ownership. We do not force one instrument or one timeline onto every situation — the structure serves the company and the mission.
Five things we will not do.
Each of these is a hard gate. A company that trips one is not scored lower. It is not scored.
Commodity with elastic supply
If any competent entrant can add the same capacity in eighteen months, there is no position to own. We back supply constrained by process, qualification or accumulated yield.
Single-program dependency, unmitigated
One customer and one program is a contract, not a company. Every position shows multiple customers and a pipeline outside our own portfolio.
No qualification or contract path
A product without a route to being bought is a science project. We underwrite the path to a program of record before we underwrite the product.
Capital committed ahead of demand visibility
A factory built for demand that is not yet contracted is how this sector destroys capital. We fund capacity against visible demand.
Substitution risk left unmonitored
A part that can be designed out is a position that can be designed out. We track the substitution pathway for every component we back, and we exit before the customer does.
Does your company fit?
If you're building in the defense ecosystem and believe your company aligns with these criteria, we welcome a confidential conversation.
How We Work With Founders