Download a PDF version of the 2026 NatSec100 Report
What Is The NatSec100?
Silicon Valley Defense Group, in close collaboration with J.P. Morgan, is proud to present the 2026 NatSec100. Now in its fourth year, the annual NatSec100 highlights the top 100 venture/PE-backed American defense companies that are innovating, building, and delivering warfighting capabilities.
The NatSec100 serves as an annual pulse check on the overall health of the emerging defense technology ecosystem. It provides a data backed analysis of where meaningful progress is taking place, where structural barriers persist, and where recent changes in policy, capital, and procurement are, or are not, working. The goal is not to declare winners. It is to provide an honest, data-driven accounting of where the ecosystem stands and what still needs to happen for innovation to reach operational scale.
Last year’s report reflected on the prior decade of dramatic growth for the emerging defense technology ecosystem. It highlighted the progress made by companies, investors, and government entities. However, it broadcast the critical message that despite progress, our ecosystem must switch from a structural focus on innovation incubation to innovation adoption.
In 2026, SVDG tracked seismic changes across the U.S. government procurement landscape. SVDG also noted increased public market exits, mergers and acquisitions, and significant interest in general across later-stage capital markets for national security companies. Outcomes are beginning to trickle in. The stage is set for innovation adoption, no small feat.
NatSec100 companies no longer have to make the case that commercial technology belongs in national security — they are making good on it. The question driving the 2026 NatSec100 is sharper as a result: Is the system actually delivering?
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The NatSec100 is Silicon Valley Defense Group's annual ranking and analysis of the top 100 venture-backed, dual-use, and defense technology companies shaping U.S. national security.
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To drive informed, grounded, and forward-looking discourse on the state of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and National Security Innovation Base (NSIB). The NatSec100 is designed to identify where real momentum is building, surface which companies are translating innovation into impact, and illuminate where the system is beginning to work and where it is not.
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A momentum-based, quantitative methodology grounded in publicly available data, now strengthened by the addition of U.S. government contracting data. The NatSec100 does not rely on valuation. It evaluates companies based on signals of growth, traction, and delivery to enable consistent comparison across sectors, stages, and business models.
As we turn our attention from innovation incubation to innovation adoption, we are building a new American Industrial Base. In doing so, only Capital Markets can leverage new capabilities at even faster speed and scale. Product quality and reliability no longer define success for non-traditional companies, instead, these companies must also ensure they can deliver production at volume.
James Cross
Co-Founder and Board Member, Silicon Valley Defense Group
Co-Head of Private Investing at Franklin Equity and Managing Director of Franklin Venture Partners
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A decade ago, the United States faced a quiet but consequential mismatch. The world’s most dynamic technology ecosystem was accelerating - capital, talent, and innovation compounding at unprecedented speed - while national security institutions struggled to leverage those advances. The problem was not imagination or ambition. A lack of connectivity between private-sector innovation, capital, and the public sector prevented the United States from fully leveraging its technological strengths for deterrence.
Since then, SVDG has helped rewire how national security innovation works in practice, aligning markets with mission, translating between capital and policy, and accelerating the adoption of commercial technology at scale. Today, venture-backed companies are central players in defense modernization, policymakers speak fluently about speed and modularity, and national security technology is recognized as a durable investment category.
As we turn our attention from innovation incubation to innovation adoption, we are building a new American Industrial Base. In doing so, only Capital Markets can leverage new capabilities at even faster speed and scale. Product quality and reliability no longer define success for non-traditional companies, instead, these companies must also ensure they can deliver production at volume.
Today, we are living through what is likely a fourth industrial revolution alongside a fourth revolution in military affairs. Our country and national security apparatus cannot afford to lose the global military technology competition for deterrence. Winning will require historically disconnected stakeholder groups - finance, founders, and policymakers – to work together with ever increasing speed and alignment.
Mike Keating
Executive Director, Silicon Valley Defense Group
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SVDG is thrilled to deliver the 2026 NatSec100 report. This year, our report arrives amid the biggest paradigm shift in defense acquisition in more than a generation. The data throughout this report signals the early manifestations of that shift. Last year, SVDG reminded our ecosystem that our adversaries do not separately categorize “defense innovation” – they simply treat it as defense, and they are proving it with production and fielding. This year, our report illustrates a growing U.S. embrace of this mentality. Structures, incentives, and processes are beginning to change the acquisition status quo at speed. Innovation trends shaped by real-world conflicts overseas are informing nearly every major policy decision at home. Meanwhile, venture and private capital continue to scale non-traditional defense startups at lightning speed. Today, aggregate private capital investment in defense, as a percentage of the total DoW budget, is on par with federal spending benchmarks seen during the Cold War.
The most pressing open question: Can these separate positive developments, government acquisition reform and private investment appetite, meet in the middle and turbocharge long-term outcomes?
While we are encouraged by the announcement of many reforms that SVDG has advocated for over the years, significant hurdles remain. A strong start matters, but as the ecosystem shifts from directive to execution, we cannot afford to take our foot off the gas. This year, 8% of total awards to NatSec100 companies constitute production contracts, up from effectively zero. That matters. However, aggregate federal spending on NatSec100 companies still constitutes only basis points of the overall DoW budget. At the same time, the gap between federal awards and private capital investment continues to widen, creating growing risk for the long-term health of the emerging defense technology ecosystem. We must see a continuation of clear demand signals from the government, backed by credible and long-term acquisition pathways.
Today, we are living through what is likely a fourth industrial revolution alongside a fourth revolution in military affairs. Our country and national security apparatus cannot afford to lose the global military technology competition for deterrence. Winning will require historically disconnected stakeholder groups - finance, founders, and policymakers – to work together with ever increasing speed and alignment. SVDG stands proudly as the central conduit helping to convene these communities and accelerate collaboration across the ecosystem.
How is the NatSec100 Produced?
The NatSec100 has grown significantly in both scope and influence since its launch in 2023. Over the past three years, the annual report has become a reference point for policymakers, investors, and national security leaders tracking momentum across the defense innovation ecosystem
In 2026, Silicon Valley Defense Group builds on this foundation with a more mature and data-rich methodology. Four years of comparative analysis now underpin the rankings, and this year the NatSec100 incorporates U.S. government contracting data for the first time as a direct input forthe scoring model.
Our proprietary scoring system, developed in partnership with Pryzm, Balyasny Asset Management, and Franklin Templeton, evaluates companies across weighted indicators of growth, capital formation, and operational traction. This approach allows us to assess companies on comparable terms regardless of sector, stage, or business model.
On contracting data
In prior years, government contracting data informed our narrative analysis but was not consistently integrated into the ranking methodology. Finding a reliable, comprehensive source for non-traditional company contracting activity proved harder than it should be; a structural limitation that itself reflects broader transparency gaps in defense procurement. Over the past year, we have worked to identify the right solution to solve this challenge. Contracting data in the 2026 NatSec100 is powered by Pryzm, a platform purpose-built to provide structured, high-confidence visibility into federal awards across prime contracts, subcontracts, and other transaction mechanisms. For the first time, the NatSec100 can systematically assess not just which companies are innovating and building, but which are beginning to sell and deliver within the defense ecosystem.
We continue to acknowledge the model's limits. Rankings rely on publicly available data and do not capture classified work or the full operational impact of many companies. The ranking does not incorporate valuations or financial performance. It measures momentum through the lens of growth, execution, and demonstrated adoption as more meaningful indicators of long-term impact than capital formation alone. Within these constraints, the NatSec100 remains a consistent, repeatable, and rigorously constructed proxy for venture-backed momentum in national security.
Methodology Inputs
The NatSec100 uses a momentum-centric, quantitative framework. Key inputs include:
U.S. government contracting activity (powered by Pryzm)
Recent capital raised
Total capital raised
Recent headcount growth
New This Year:
Eligibility Update
The 2026 NatSec100 introduces one change to eligibility requirements: companies must have secured at least one U.S. government contract as of December 31, 2025. This reflects the maturation of the market. In the early years of the defense innovation ecosystem, tracking promising pre-revenue companies made sense. Today, companies and customers have evolved, and demonstrated traction matters. Eligibility now reflects that standard.
All other eligibility criteria remain unchanged. Companies must be venture or private equity-backed and not publicly traded or have filed to go public, must not have been acquired by a publicly traded company, must publicly demonstrate dual-use or defense applicability, and must pass vetting for foreign ownership concerns in coordination with counterintelligence partners.
Eligibility Requirements
Venture or private equity-backed and not publicly traded, nor filed to IPO
Not acquired by a publicly traded company
Clear dual-use or defense applicability with relevance to U.S. national security
At least one U.S. government contract secured as of December 31, 2025
Cleared vetting for foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) concerns
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SpaceX does not appear in the 2026 NatSec100.
In prior years, SpaceX met eligibility requirements and was included on the list, though its size often masked insights into the rest of the Cohort. SVDG consequently presented data analysis with and without SpaceX given the company's scale relative to the rest of the cohort. In 2026, SpaceX has filed with the SEC in preparation for a public offering, making the company ineligible under the NatSec100's requirement that listed companies not be publicly traded or have filed paperwork and are positioning for an upcoming IPO.
SpaceX's trajectory, from venture-backed startup to one of the most consequential defense and space companies in the world, is itself a signal. (So consequential, in fact, that SVDG was founded following a visit to SpaceX by then-Senator John McCain). It is the clearest example yet of what the defense innovation ecosystem can produce when private capital, technological ambition, and government demand align over time. Its graduation from this list is a milestone worth noting.
Setting the Scene
The Ecosystem at a Glance:
What Changed in the Past 12 Months
Setting the Scene
The Ecosystem at a Glance: What Changed in the Past 12 Months
The 2025 NatSec100 arrived at an inflection point. DoW spending on the 2025 cohort of NatSec100 companies had grown by roughly 2.3x year over year. Private capital continued to accelerate. A new generation of venture-backed companies was maturing: hiring at pace, winning contracts, and in some cases beginning to compete for programs once reserved for traditional primes. The central argument of that report was direct: innovation alone is no longer the challenge, adoption is.
That message was received by key policymakers and the pace of change has been genuinely significant. A new administration arrived in Washington with a clear bias for rebuilding and modernizing the defense industrial base by: reducing friction, moving faster, rewarding performance, and treating acquisition speed as a warfighting priority rather than one tradeoff among many. Sweeping executive action, an Acquisition Transformation Strategy, new innovation organizations, expanded financial tools, and a significant budget that reflects the nation’s defense needs have been tangible shifts that reflect their seriousness.
On the other hand, 12 months has not been enough time to restructure the acquisition system and demonstrate outcomes that signal full implementation of those serious actions. Yet, there are promising signs that the proposed changes are starting to bear fruit. Marketplaces designed to make it easier for non-traditional defense companies to compete have been created, contracting offices are issuing more open challenge solicitations, there is greater teaming between smaller firms and legacy primes, and there are long-term production agreements being negotiated with new providers of weapon systems. SVDG celebrates these advances while also recognizing that there are still numerous policies that need to be updated, there are a plethora of lower-level processes that need to be modified and that there is new training that is required to institutionalize the new paradigm. The machinery of implementation is just beginning to turn.
This is the honest position the 2026 NatSec100 occupies: more has changed in the past year than in any comparable period since the defense innovation movement began. The full extent of what it will generate is too early to call. What we can do, and what this report attempts to do, is identify the shifts that matter most, establish clear indicators of success for each, and let the data tell us what the ecosystem looks like from the ground up.
Companies on the 2026 list are building in an unprecedented environment. Some are scaling. Some are facing roadblocks. All of them are navigating a system in active transformation.
The 2025 report called for a shift in focus to innovation adoptions.
The 2026 report asks whether the system is actually delivering.
The invigoration of American industry is a strategic imperative, not a choice. To preserve deterrence amid the rapidly changing character of warfare—including the commoditization of 'cheap kill'—we must supercharge our Defense Industrial Base. This requires accelerating munitions production with our traditional primes while aggressively embracing the speed, agility, and innovation of non-traditional companies. By unleashing the full weight of American and allied innovation at scale, we convert production capability into decisive combat power. This is how sustainment wins wars, how we set the theater, and how we field a resilient, ready force in the Pacific.
— Admiral Samuel Paparo, Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
Seismic Shifts
The six shifts below define the operating landscape for the 2026 NatSec100. Each is consequential, but most are still unfolding in real time.
Seismic Shifts
The six shifts below define the operating landscape for the 2026 NatSec100. Each is consequential, but most are still unfolding in real time.
2026 NatSec100
Rankings & Data
2026 NatSec100
Rankings & Data
2026 NatSec100 Companies
Stats to Date
$4.3B
in Federal Obligations in FY25
↑ 22%
~2.5% Increase from FY23
$16B
in Total Lifetime Federal Obligations
↑ 36%
Growth of Lifetime Obligations in FY25
Contract Breakdown
FY2020-2025
$6.5B
$3.4B
Federal Prime
Federal OTA
$1B
$2.7B
Federal Subcontract
Federal SBIR Awards
$86.3B
↑ ~2.7x
Private Capital Raised in 2025 with OpenAI
Increase from 2024
$304.1B
Total Private Capital Raised with OpenAI
$39.6B
↑ 2x
Private Capital Raised in 2025 without OpenAI
Increase from 2024
$118.2B
Total Private Capital Raised without OpenAI
Gap between Total Private Capital and Total Federal Awards
$288.1B
With OpenAI
$102.2B
Without OpenAI
8.5 years
Average Age of Company
The Companies
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In 2025, the NatSec100 included a note acknowledging that both OpenAI and Anthropic had made significant moves into the national security space but both companies were excluded from the 2025 list because their eligibility had not been assessed prior to the list being finalized.
In 2026, both companies were formally evaluated for inclusion. OpenAI was deemed eligible and is included on the 2026 NatSec100 ranking at #12.
Anthropic's case is more complicated than a straightforward eligibility determination. In July 2025, Anthropic signed a $200 million Other Transaction Agreement with the Department of War, becoming the first frontier AI model approved for use on classified networks and embedding Claude Gov deeply into mission-critical workflows through its partnership with Palantir.
In early 2026, a contractual dispute over the scope of permissible use cases led to the termination of that agreement and the Department's designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk, a determination Anthropic has challenged in federal court. As of publication, that litigation remains active, and, as a result, Anthropic does not currently meet criteria for eligibility for the 2026 NatSec100. Absent the dispute, Anthropic's momentum would have placed it among the top 10 companies on this year's list. As it is for all companies that are considered, we will re-evaluate eligibility for future editions.
The Data
Recommendations
Turn the Signals Into Outcomes
Recommendations
Turn the Signals Into Outcomes
The six shifts described in this report represent genuine progress. The policy architecture is more complete than it has ever been. Capital is moving with purpose. The exit data proves the ecosystem produces real outcomes at real scale. None of that was true five years ago.
But signals are not outcomes. The indicators we have identified across each shift are not yet visible in the contract data. Faster and more abundant production awards, more OSC loans closing, DAWG contracts reaching non-traditional vendors, a highly successful SpaceX IPO are all tests that will define whether 2025 and 2026 become a turning point or another reform cycle that fell short of its ambition.
The following recommendations are deliberately narrow and are not a comprehensive defense innovation agenda. They are the specific actions that, in SVDG's assessment, carry leverage against the bottlenecks revealed in this report.
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The single most important shift in how the Department of War evaluates itself is moving from inputs to outputs. Pilots launched, OTAs awarded, and companies engaged are process metrics. Technologies fielded, capabilities made operational, and time from contract to deployment are outcome metrics. The Warfighting Acquisition System established speed to capability as its organizing principle and now the Department needs the accountability structures to match. Every PEO/PAE should publish an adoption scorecard documenting what got fielded, what remains in prototype, and what stalled and why.
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The Navy has built what it would look like to do this in practice. The Department of the Navy's Innovation Adoption Kit and its accompanying guidance on Adaptive Roadmaps (championed by Navy CTO Justin Fanelli) represent a structured, enterprise-wide approach to building acquisition judgment, not just acquisition skills. Rather than teaching contracting officers a discrete technique, the Navy built a shared framework for how the entire organization evaluates, adopts, and scales emerging technology over time. Training teaches people what to do. Education changes how people think. The rest of the Department of War should not wait to develop its own version from scratch. The template and the playbook already exist and it just needs to be scaled.
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The Office of Strategic Capital and the Economic Defense Unit were created precisely to fund what venture capital cannot: patient, long-duration capital for capital-intensive sectors like energetics, microelectronics, advanced materials, and manufacturing infrastructure. The tools are authorized and the appropriations are approved. The test now is whether that capital reaches the companies and sectors that genuinely need government de-risking, rather than flowing to the easiest applications. Publishing loan outcomes and showing where the capital went and what it unlocked would itself become a demand signal for private investors watching from the sidelines, and do so in coordination with other USG financial mechanisms.
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Publishing what the DoW actually needs has been asked for by SVDG and many others for over a decade. It has proven to be a difficult ask. In terms of a more near-term ask: publish the shorter list of what the Department is not going to invest in. Telling the market where you will not deploy capital saves founders and investors from chasing dead ends, redirects private resources toward higher-probability bets, and creates a clearer demand signal by exclusion. It is a less ambitious version of the full demand signal document and it is far more likely to actually happen. Industry would also benefit from a dynamic list that is published quarterly as a part of the requirements process, where capability needs are tied directly to mission threads.
The Bottom Line
The 2026 NatSec100 captures an ecosystem at a genuine inflection point. The seismic changes of the past year created better conditions for defense innovation than any prior period in the movement's history. The companies on this list are building real things, raising real capital, and in a growing number of cases delivering real outcomes to real missions.
What comes next depends less on additional policy and more on execution. The tools exist. The capital is moving. The demand signal from the battlefield, from the budget, and from the exit data has never been clearer. The question is whether the system can move with enough speed and consistency to turn this moment into a permanent shift. Will private capital and the energy of patriotic founders be rewarded and drive a more enduring shift in how we fund and acquire military capability – or will it be a blip in the acquisition history books that postmortems unfold stories of what could have been?
Acknowledgements
We are deeply grateful to the individuals and organizations whose partnership, insight, and commitment made the 2026 NatSec100 possible.
J.P. Morgan, our NatSec100 title sponsor, has been a steadfast and visionary partner to the mission of Silicon Valley Defense Group. Special thanks to John China, Rhett Jeppson, Jeff Balka, and Joshua Pacheco for your continued leadership and dedication to this work.
Balyasny Asset Management and Franklin Templeton Ventures — In particular, James Cross and Jamie McGurk, for your partnership over four years in building the data infrastructure that powers this report — from algorithm development and analytics to validation and refinement.
Pryzm, whose technology and team transformed how we incorporate U.S. government contracting data into this year's methodology. Finding a partner capable of synthesizing contracting data for non-traditional companies at the quality and scale this report demands was no small task. We are proud to work with them. Special thanks to Nick LaRovere, Justin Deckert, Joe Lace, Alex Davidson, and Matthew Coyle.
Creative Defense Network, including Matt MacGregor and Pete Modigliani, for your strategic insight, candid counsel, and genuine investment in making this report as sharp and honest as it could be.
Dayton Segard and Winifred Wright from The Book Club, our exceptional design and web development partners, for bringing the storytelling and visual identity of the NatSec100 to life with creativity and care.
Founding and former SVDG Executive Directors Sam Gray and Jacqueline Tame, whose bold leadership launched the NatSec100 and transformed an idea into a movement.
Emily McMahan, whose critical thinking, tireless work ethic, and quiet determination to get every detail right are woven into every page of this report.
Dylan Serrentino-Mullins, SVDG's NatSec100 Fellow, for his unwavering commitment and thoughtful guidance in helping shape this report to the highest standard.
Chris Donaghey, SVDG Executive Board Chairman, for his guidance, leadership, and vision.
And finally, to the core SVDG team — thank you for your relentless energy, thoughtful execution, and unwavering dedication.
This report was authored by Mike Keating, Merritt Ogle, and Simone Montandon.
About SVDG
Silicon Valley Defense Group (SVDG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the U.S. and allied defense innovation ecosystem.
SVDG operates at the intersection of government, industry, and capital — working to ensure that emerging technologies are not only developed, but adopted and scaled to meet real national security needs. Through convening, research, and targeted initiatives, SVDG brings together leaders from across the ecosystem to drive more effective collaboration and accelerate the delivery of mission-relevant capability.
SVDG's work is grounded in a core belief: that innovation alone is insufficient without the systems, capital, and institutional alignment required to operationalize it. By connecting decision-makers, shaping discourse, and surfacing where the system is working and where it is not, SVDG supports a more resilient, responsive, and modern defense industrial base.
The NatSec100 reflects this mission by providing a data-driven, honest accounting of the companies shaping the future of national security and the ecosystem surrounding them. We remain committed to refining this analysis over time, because the stakes of getting it right have never been higher.
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