Try to imagine the most dystopian military startup you can think of, and there’s a good chance it already has a billion-dollar valuation in Texas.
Palmer Luckey’s Warhound is a perfect case-in-point. Along with cofounder Ben Lamm, the billionaire arms maker has been plugging away at a startup promising to “produce genetically enhanced working dogs” for use on the battlefield.
According to the Financial Times, Warhound quietly launched 18 months ago, and has already raised $200 million from major tech investors like Sequoia Capital, giving it a valuation of $1.2 billion. Even the CIA’s venture capital firm In-Q-Tel is reportedly involved, making what should be a schlocky sci-fi premise a deadly serious reality.
As Lamm described it to the FT, Warhound is meant to be a “Captain America program for dogs [which] also solves a real problem in the welfare of these animals.”
