Best Seed Security & Cybersecurity + Aerospace & Defense Investors 2026

Gula Tech Adventures invests in startups solving critical cybersecurity and national security problems, with a focus on founders who combine deep technical expertise, business acumen, and mission alignment. Rather than a traditional VC, Gula Tech operates as a self-funded, impact-focused family office enabling long-term patient capital. The firm evaluates opportunities equally on three dimensions: the problem being solved, deal fundamentals, and team quality. Ron and Cyndi's success building Tenable enables hands-on mentorship, technical due diligence, and access to government and critical infrastructure networks.

Exceptional founders building unrivaled aerospace, defense, and national security companies. Silent Ventures takes a contrarian bet on defense tech at the earliest stages — concept, pre-seed, and seed — when most institutional capital is unavailable. The firm believes the next generation of great defense companies will be built by mission-driven startup founders combining private-sector speed with national security urgency.

Point72 Ventures backs ambitious founders building for big outcomes across critical domains. Going deep, not wide—the firm focuses on specialized investment theses in AI, Consumer, and Defense Tech, bringing deep sector insights, partnership, and hands-on support from seed to pre-IPO.

Security technology is a necessity independent of economic cycles. We back technical experts who have seen over the horizon as security practitioners across commercial, military, or intelligence sectors. We invest in entrepreneurs who are on a mission to secure our freedom.

Scout invests in frontier technologies built by founders from military, intelligence, and national research labs. The team provides capital, operational partnership, government network access, and non-dilutive capital leverage. Focus on dual-use technologies with both commercial and defense applications.

Invest in market-creating companies with exceptional founders and large addressable markets. Prioritize market size and dynamics, then evaluate product-market fit through personal usage test. Focus on founder quality and execution capability over other factors.

We partner with bold builders of category-defining companies from Seed to Series F and beyond. Depth of commitment, depth of relationships, and depth of belief distinguish us. Complete immersion, authentic partnership, and unwavering conviction through market cycles.

Exceptional talent and innovation exist beyond coastal venture capital hubs. We partner with mission-driven entrepreneurs to build companies of impact, utility, and value in the Rocky Mountain region. Technical founders with regional commitment and proven execution ability are our ideal partners.

Make no little plans. Support revolutionary (not evolutionary) ideas that transform industries and benefit society. We partner with entrepreneurs solving massively multi-disciplinary problems at the intersection of AI, data, biotech, and deep tech. Our style of in-the-trenches venture capital doesn't scale—we make fewer than 10 investments per year so we have time to roll up our sleeves with every team we back.

Partner with exceptional teams building transformative technology companies across all stages

Apply AI and data science to identify and invest in N-of-1 companies with 10-100x potential. Back founders who expand individual freedom and decentralize power. Invest in companies that embody principles from the Bill of Rights (voice, fair process, proportionality, user power) and Bitcoin whitepaper (trust-minimized, verifiable, aligned incentives, open access).

We back founders venturing beyond to build transformational companies that create positive, enduring change. Applied AI and global resilience are fundamental forces reshaping industries.

Partner with technical operators and SMB owners to execute technology-led middle-market buyouts. Capture outsized economic value from AI at the ownership layer of services providers rather than pure-play tech.

Investing in inevitable deep tech. Back visionary founders building transformational companies in domains where technological disruption is predetermined, not probable. Focus on early scale inflection points where companies move from potential to proven commercial viability.

We're a different type of venture firm. We wake up every morning and ask ourselves how we can help our portfolio companies move the needle. From in-the-weeds to twenty thousand feet, we are partners at every level. We serve as an extension of founder headcount, sitting in portfolio company Slack channels, maintaining weekly calls, and proactively helping with hiring and customer introductions.

Back extraordinary leadership teams—founders exceptional at building and exiting businesses with leadership styles that military-trained partners can uniquely mentor, support, and supercharge. Particular conviction in military veteran founders (30%+ of AUM) who demonstrate proven track record, drive, mission-orientation, teamwork, strategic excellence, growth mindset, and integrity.

Technology will define geopolitics. We invest in the Freedom Stack—foundational technologies critical to American national security and technological leadership. We partner with mission-driven founders building capabilities essential to American prosperity and strategic advantage.

We invest in technically sophisticated founding teams solving breakthrough problems in deep-tech. We believe the next generation of transformational companies will be built by scientists and engineers with deep domain expertise tackling problems at the frontier of AI, cybersecurity, quantum, robotics, space, synthetic biology, and bioengineering. We provide patient capital and technical partnership to help these teams achieve escape velocity.

Invest in only two kinds of technologies: those that move humanity toward utopia, and those that hold the line against oblivion. Back n-of-1 visions for an era of Black Swans—unconventional companies solving civilization-scale problems that others dismiss as too early, too risky, or too misunderstood.

Mantis invests opportunistically in Seed and Series A technology-enabled startups, leveraging deep social capital across tech, media, entertainment, and finance to provide unmatched GTM support. The firm is founder-obsessed and differentiates through celebrity network access, customer introductions, talent acquisition help, and brand amplification.

Investing in founders building critical software that addresses the decay of Western infrastructure, institutions, and industrial base. Ravelin backs software-defined transformation of aerospace, defense, manufacturing, energy, and industrial sectors.

Mark VC takes a deeply founder-centric approach, building '360-degree behavioral maps' of founders through extensive personal reference calls. They invest across industries but focus on security & defense, healthcare, consumer, and enterprise software. They strive to be the most valuable investor on the cap table through hands-on coaching and operational support.

Back technical founders building critical infrastructure for foundational industries. Pair growth-stage capital with deep regulatory expertise and government/industry connectivity to create defensible advantages in overlooked, essential sectors.

Network-powered startups connecting people and businesses through software tools and platforms

Building transformational companies requires more than capital—it demands deep operational expertise, consistent partnership, and genuine commitment to founders' success. Costanoa backs visionaries solving big, hard problems across data infrastructure, applied AI, cybersecurity, fintech, and national security. The firm centers on the 'missing middle' of early-stage investing: providing unusually intensive, hands-on support to founder teams during their most critical growth phases.

Seeking early-stage alpha through institutional discipline. ATX VP invests in people pioneering the future by combining Wall Street rigor with deep operating experience. Core focus on disruptive B2B software, APIs, frontier tech, and marketplaces across Supply Chain, FinTech, InsurTech, HR Tech, Aerospace, and Future of Work.

Deep technology and hard tech company investing at inflection points. Partner with technical founders building infrastructure-level solutions for global scale. Founded 2010 on belief that next generation of transformative companies require deep technical expertise, not just capital.

We democratize venture capital by providing individual accredited investors with professional-grade access to elite venture opportunities. We leverage our massive 850,000+ community network and 11,000+ investors to create unique value for founders, sourcing and diligencing deals alongside top-tier VCs (a16z, Sequoia, Khosla) without leading rounds. Our network is our competitive advantage—it compounds value for all stakeholders.

Exceptional founders with clear technical solutions to enterprise market pain points, focused on SaaS, cybersecurity, infrastructure, data intelligence, and computer vision. We provide capital plus operational excellence through Shasta Elevate playbooks.

Backs inception-stage technical founders across Europe and Israel building solutions for hard markets including AI infrastructure, space/aerospace, advanced manufacturing, energy, biology, and other deep-tech verticals.

Back mission-driven founders addressing significant global challenges through leading-edge technology. Provide flexible and patient capital, leveraging our time, resources, and networks to support portfolio company success. Focus on founders with authentic social and environmental missions alongside commercial viability.

Great companies aren't born, they're made. XYZ invests in early-stage founders with exceptional execution capability, deep domain expertise, or lived experience insights. They specialize in helping founders navigate the earliest stages by providing capital plus strategic operational support.

K5 Global backs category-defining companies from inception to IPO. The firm leverages exceptional networks across media, entertainment, politics, finance, and technology to provide strategic value beyond capital. We believe the best companies are built by founders who can access world-class talent, capital, and strategic relationships.

Pax Technica: The next era of American global leadership will emerge from physical-world technological superiority — reinventing defense, energy, manufacturing, aerospace, and critical infrastructure. Backs mission-driven founders tackling the hardest industrial-scale problems.

Digital transformation of the enterprise in Japan. Backs ambitious startups with a tech component aiming to scale both domestically and internationally. Fund VII focuses on AI/deep tech, energy transition, inbound tourism, and defense. Founded by recovering entrepreneurs who believe operator experience makes better investors.

Inertia invests in AI-native companies built to become core infrastructure for legacy industries, especially platforms operating in regulated, context-heavy, and physical-world workflows where durable data, compliance, audit trails, or embodied operations create compounding advantages.

Back exceptional entrepreneurs building enduring companies that defy expectations. Value authenticity and tenacity to turn daring ideas into lasting impact. One life-altering investment can lead to industry-wide transformation.

Transformative national security solutions emerge from early-stage private-sector startups developing frontier technologies. IQT identifies, evaluates, and leverages innovations to accelerate government adoption while enhancing commercial success. As of May 2026, IQT is emphasizing mission investing through fewer larger bets in autonomy, contested logistics, critical infrastructure, and technologies that can move to mission use quickly.

AI-first venture capital firm investing in AI transformation and digital infrastructure across GenAI Infrastructure (AI chips, quantum, autonomous robotics), Deep Domains (fintech, healthcare, enterprise), and GenAI Agents (autonomous AI for real-world consumer and enterprise use).

Be the first check in for founders building America's next era of critical technologies. Invest in audacious founders across Defense, Aerospace, Energy, AI, Manufacturing, Cybersecurity, and Health+Bio solving problems critical to national security and American technological leadership. Provide capital ($250K-$1M), unmatched government access, mentor network, and go-to-market acceleration.

Partner with exceptional founders to build generational companies that define the world's most critical industries. We provide not just capital but assemble teams of the highest caliber through our 5,000+ member builder community and deep operational expertise.

Back the quirky underdog pursuing seemingly impossible ideas. Frontier tech (aerospace, biotech, climate, robotics, crypto, AI, VR/AR) will create the next generation of legendary companies. Technical founders with deep domain expertise can solve the hardest problems in physics, chemistry, and computing.

Belgium-first network-driven VC backing the most ambitious Belgian-founded tech startups at Pre-Seed and Seed. Pools capital, expertise, and network from 120+ founders, operators, and investors to help early-stage Belgian companies scale globally.

Back founders building iconic companies that transcend boundaries. We invest directly in their growth to make them unbreakable. Founded on principle that luck isn't made, it's engineered. Founders are our customer, not LPs. We always vote shares with founders and provide 1% non-dilutive founder development capital alongside every first check.

Back exceptional Kiwi founders building globally transformative companies, from day one to IPO. New Zealand founders represent a significantly undervalued asset class, and Icehouse provides capital plus an ecosystem of 3,000+ investors and deep operational support.

Battery Ventures operates as a stage-agnostic firm backing technology-driven category leaders across all growth stages from seed to buyout. The firm believes the best tech investments span the entire founder journey, and they practice collaborative, research-focused investing with embedded operational support through their Portfolio Services platform. They seek technical founders with deep domain expertise and experienced operators building in four core sectors: Application Software, Infrastructure Software, Consumer, and Industrial Tech + Life Science Tools.

We invest in paradigm shifters—truly disruptive technologies that change our perspective of the world. We believe in missionary founders committed to their vision, and we focus on business-team-idea-timing fit, not just product-market fit. We target transformative companies across defense, climate, fintech, legal tech, and emerging domains.

Corporate-advantage seed investing. We identify promising AI and deep tech startups early, then leverage our hundreds of relationships with corporate venture capital arms to de-risk investments, accelerate time to exit, and create curated dealflow where both founders and corporates benefit from strategic alignment.

Amplify founder impact through capital paired with deep expertise in government market access, federal R&D funding capture, and government contracting strategy. Focus on dual-use technologies addressing national security, defense, energy, and infrastructure challenges.

Partner with exceptional founders building from 0 to 1, with focus on AI applications, developer tools, SaaS, and healthcare. Believe in founders who have succeeded once or have deep domain expertise.

HOF Capital invests in relentlessly ambitious founders building world-changing technologies that accelerate abundance: sustained technological progress that expands access to opportunity, health, and economic prosperity. Its current public thesis emphasizes AI and agentic systems as amplifiers of discovery, engineering, and knowledge creation, alongside frontier infrastructure and applications that can shorten scientific and technological invention timelines.

Lightbank invests in disruptive technology companies led by great founders in dynamic markets with world-class products. The firm believes exceptional founders and opportunities exist everywhere, especially in overlooked geographies like the Midwest. We partner with early-stage founders and provide operator-heavy support beyond capital.

Back European technical founders building globally ambitious deeptech and critical technology companies at pre-seed and seed, with concentrated first-check conviction and Paris/San Francisco/Berlin support.

Entrepreneurs who work constructively with government to harness its unique strengths—scale, credibility, regulatory power, data, and funding—enjoy asymmetric advantages. 24% of venture-backed unicorns used government support. We partner with founders to unlock government as a growth lever.

Sand Hill Angels backs seed-stage, high-tech companies with large and growing markets, well-defined problems, disruptive solutions, defensible technology, and strong teams with demonstrated ability to execute. The group leverages 145+ experienced angels to provide capital, mentorship, and network access across the Silicon Valley ecosystem.

Back ambitious teams with strong learning and execution capacities across all sectors, stages, and geographies. Technology-enabled businesses preferred. Volume-based, founder-centric investment philosophy.

Leading global companies that leverage technological innovation across public and private markets. Proven founders (especially ex-Googlers, AWS, Stripe) with large TAMs (billions+), product-led growth, and global ambitions. Conviction-based investing post-2022 correction emphasizing quality over quantity.

We invest in early-stage Polish deep tech startups with a clear technological edge—solving hard problems through software-driven or hardware-enabled solutions. Defensible technology, early validation, and resilient founders are non-negotiables. A deeptech project without real customers becomes a research project.

Exceptional entrepreneurs building critical national security, space, and industrial infrastructure at day zero deserve capital and strategic support from founders who've scaled before. We provide capital, industry network introductions, capital connections to Series A leads, and ecosystem access.

We are a stage-agnostic venture capital firm investing in exceptional founders building the companies that shape our world.

Backs frontier deep tech companies solving physical infrastructure bottlenecks of the AI supercycle, especially compute, energy, quantum, AI infrastructure, robotics, and autonomous manufacturing across the U.S.-Israel corridor.

Equity of access and representation in venture capital delivers positive returns. Diverse and underrepresented (including LGBTQ+) leaders of high-growth companies deserve capital access. When these founders succeed, they influence ecosystems and open doors for historically excluded groups.

AI, autonomy, and cybersecurity will define both economic prosperity and national security. We invest in early-stage founders leveraging unfair advantages to build category-leading dual-use technology startups that serve both commercial and defense markets.

The next generation of transformative technologies will emerge from entrepreneurs building solutions for national defense, security, and critical infrastructure protection. We invest at the intersection of technology and geopolitical imperatives.

Concentrated day-zero partnerships with ambitious technical founders building generational AI, cybersecurity, infrastructure software, and adjacent technical companies from inception.

Democratize access to venture capital by building large syndicates of non-traditional LPs. Invest across all stages, sectors, and geographies based on founder quality and market conviction, not category restrictions. Enable 2,000+ diverse co-investors to participate alongside marquee firms like Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz while maintaining founder-friendly economics.

Invest in the most promising Southern European (primarily Italian) deep-technology companies across Advanced Manufacturing, Life Science, and Energy & Environment, and actively support their expansion into Asian markets (China, South Korea, Japan, South-East Asia). The fund uses a proprietary evaluation framework and a 'pull model' — companies must demonstrate genuine Asian market interest before investment.

Operator-led fund investing in ambitious founders building transformative AI applications. We partner with technical founders who understand AI/ML deeply and are solving real customer problems with capital efficiency. Great product is always the best marketing.