However, overlapping sectors such as cybersecurity and robotics have seen an increase in funding from Q4 2023 to Q1 of this year. In cybersecurity, startups raised nearly $2.7 billion in Q1 2024, a 69% increase from the previous quarter. Venture funding in the robotics sector jumped from $1.4 billion in Q4 2023 to $2.1 billion last quarter. Despite the decline in defense tech funding, one big round can make a significant difference, as seen with Anduril's potential $1.5 billion round.
Key takeaways:
- Defense tech funding has significantly slowed down this year, with funding less than half of what it was at the same point last year, despite ongoing global conflicts.
- In Q1, funding to startups in the industries of military, national security and law enforcement dropped to $118 million, a 74% drop from the $459 million invested in such startups in Q1 of last year.
- Despite the overall slowdown, overlapping sectors such as cybersecurity and robotics have seen an increase in funding from Q4 2023 to Q1 of this year.
- Anduril, a software and hardware defense tech startup, closed a massive $1.5 billion Series E in late 2022, which seemed to spur on a gold rush for defense startups last year.