Exclusive: Gambit exits stealth with L3Harris, RTX partnerships in hand
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
What do you get when you cram into the same room years of experience from inside the Pentagon, Defense Innovation Unit, Marine Corps, Air Force, SpaceX, Unity and Virgin Hyperloop? Gambit.
The big picture: The dual-use software company wants to make coordination across machines — aerial drones, ground robotics and more — smart and seamless, no matter the brand or builder.
- "As a kid growing up in the '90s, very influenced by the Trinity scene in 'The Matrix' where she's like, 'Tank, I need a helicopter program,' how do you create the helicopter program?" CEO Josh Giegel told Axios.
- "What's the company that's going to be able to do that?"
Driving the news: Gambit formally exited stealth Wednesday but has made some waves since its 2023 founding.
- It's struck partnerships with AWS, L3Harris Technologies, RTX and Sierra Nevada Corporation, all among America's largest defense contractors.
- It's landed Pentagon contracts — plus it's participated in U.S. military exercises, including with the Army and Special Operations Command. ("Some of the contracts we're on, we're actually the red team. We're the ones flying against the systems," Giegel said.)
- And it's secured H.R. McMaster as an adviser.
Context: Militaries consider unmanned and autonomous technologies game-changers, whether that's before, during or after a fight. But the systems' inability, in some cases, to play nice with others and deal with sudden frontline changes has been a problem.
- Gambit is pitching itself as the provider of the "highest level of autonomy," capable of learning, adapting and collaborating "as a single brain."
- "What I hear from customers is our stuff actually works," chief commercial officer Ben Richardson told Axios.
Follow the money: Gambit is backed by Eclipse and Marlinspike, among other investors.
- The next 12-24 months "are going to be a really great demonstration of the [Defense Department] really shifting its procurement and acquisition methodologies and aligning with the nature of what Gambit is building," Aidan Madigan-Curtis, a partner at Eclipse, told Axios.
Go deeper: U.S. troops get attack drones similar to Iran's deadly Shahed
