Venture capital deployed into drone companies last year exceeded total Pentagon spending on drones.

Let that sink in.

In 2025, investors poured $12B into drone and autonomous systems. The DoD spent $8.4B on the entire category.

Yesterday, the Pentagon announced 25 companies competing for its $1.1B Drone Dominance Program. I pulled the cap tables.

13 of these companies have raised over $700M collectively. Conservative estimates put total capital deployed past $1B (nearly equal to the entire program value).

The Drone Dominance Program is as close as you can get to a modern day hunger games for these companies.

The Gauntlet starts Feb 18 at Fort Benning. Soldiers get the controllers. Winners split $150M in prototype contracts. As few as 3 companies could be selected. Losers go home.

Government budget data and contracting courtesy of Obviant (Thank you Brendan and your team for letting me use your incredible product this week)!