Exclusive: Valinor wants to build defense-tech "picks and shovels"
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Valinor has over the course of a year quietly assembled several firms to address defense-tech wants and needs that have flown under the radar.
Why it matters: "There's probably 1,000 times more picks and shovels in the government than the moon shots, but there's really no model to serve them," chief executive Julie Bush told Axios.
- "That's what Valinor does."
Driving the news: Valinor unveiled Harbor, a field hospital in a box. It's one of several products being revealed this month by the company of companies, as it bills itself.
- Others include "contact charging for your iPhone, but for any unmanned aerial system" and a "smart optics wearable," according to Bush.
Zoom in: Valinor is based in Washington, with offices in Chinatown. Its teams comprise subject-matter experts and are built based on market interest.
- "We are a very seasoned team of capital allocators, market experts and engineers that have .... lived the new neo-prime world," Bush said.
- "It doesn't have to be the Golden Dome, but it might be critical to a component of the Golden Dome," she said. "It doesn't have to be the next-generation fighter jet, but it's a critical part of that."
The intrigue: Bush has more than a decade of experience at Palantir Technologies. Trae Stephens at Founders Fund, Paul Kwan at General Catalyst and Grant Verstandig at Red Cell Partners are considered founding partners of the company.
- "A lot of the problem sets that I was coming across in the defense sector were interesting and needed to be solved, but they're not like moon shots with enormous markets," Stephens told Axios.
- "The concept was: What if we were to incubate companies that are solving real problems that aren't attached to this crazy hype-cycle moment?"
Go deeper: U.S. Army adopts "venture capital mindset" with new Fuze program
