Neros

“The company recently raised a $250M Series C at a $2.5B valuation, signaling institutional conviction in U.S.-made drone production as a durable category.”

“Monroe-Anderson's 'hottest take' directly challenges the consensus view that the defense tech startup wave is broadly productive. He suggests the majority of output is ineffective or worse. A lot of the defense tech, maybe the majority of defense tech products that are being put out right now by startups are not very effective and maybe even completely useless.”

“3D printing is generally good for making a few of a thing, making lots of different things. We are mostly focused on making a lot of one thing, or a really consistent process. You're not gonna be 3D printing your circuit boards, your motors, your radios, any of that stuff out on the battlefield. So it does not solve the supply chain problem”

“Neros Technologies has moved from a 15,000 sq ft facility running 100 people to a 250,000 sq ft facility purpose-built for mass production — a 16x increase in footprint. This is not speculative; the company is already producing at commercial scale. We sized this building to be big enough to do a million drones per year. Current output is already 250+ drones per day”

“Building the Bandit Interceptor and Archer AI drone. Currently producing 250+ drones per day from a 250,000 sq ft facility designed for one million drones per year.”

“We were at Anduril and we went into their R&D building. It's huge. Matt Grimm showed us the castings that they have for their drone bodies, which seem a lot heavier.”

“This is what we're doing right now with the Archer AI product before it goes into main production later this year. So one of the things that — this has never been seen before.”

“California-based defense tech startup Neros secured a $250 million round led by Sequoia and American Strategic Technology Fund at a $2.5 billion valuation.”

“The involvement of Sequoia (typically consumer/enterprise-focused) in defense signals a broadening of institutional VC appetite for the sector.”

“Maybe my hottest take is that a lot of the defense tech — maybe the majority of defense tech products that are being put out right now by startups — are not very effective and maybe even like completely useless. They're fake.”

“The round was led by Sequoia and ASTF with a bunch of great partners, including Interlagos, Valor Equity Partners, Allen & Company, Teal Capital, Spark Capital, Mantis, and Dillon Field.”

“holds a $500M IDIQ with the U.S. Army”

“We were the first company to have an FPV drone on the blue UAS list, meaning the Department of War could actually just purchase and use it without having to go through a bunch of crazy approvals. That meant that we had gone and de-China-fied our core components.”