Warhound raises $200M to engineer war dogs and arm them with Anduril gear
Warhound has secured $200 million in funding to engineer war dogs and equip them with Anduril gear.
By Amelia Gupta ·
The U.S. military’s reliance on foreign war dogs is shrinking as Warhound raises $200 million in funding to engineer and arm war dogs with Anduril gear. This round values the company at $1.2 billion, and the investors include Sequoia, 8VC, Corner Ventures, and In-Q-Tel, a venture firm backed by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. Warhound’s dogs, which do not yet exist, will be designed to take on tasks that are dangerous for humans or difficult for machines, such as bomb detection, searches, and other specialized operations.
More than 80% of the U.S. military’s working dogs come from Europe, and less than half of them are fit for service. This means the supply of working dogs is dwindling, and the U.S. increasingly relies on foreign nations for dogs that play an important role in the military and in law enforcement. Warhound aims to change that by using its technology to engineer dogs with “characteristics suited to demanding missions.”
Ben Lamm and Palmer Luckey, who met about a year ago at a conference, have been working on this idea for a year. Lamm studied how working dogs are bred and learned that many of them do not make it through training because of inherited predispositions to problems like poor eyesight or the high possibilities of cancer, hip dysplasia, or muscle atrophy. Lamm believes dogs could be enhanced for health, longevity, and “for things like speed and agility or enhance olfactory sensors for bomb sniffing and whatnot.”
Anduril, meanwhile, will provide software and hardware, such as protection vests and goggles, to assist the dogs and their handlers with situational awareness and coordination. Lamm said to imagine, for example, bulletproof vests with data sensors that send information back to the handlers so they can better understand what is happening. The hope is that the enhancements will also better protect the dogs’ human handlers. Luckey is a partner in the venture but owns no equity in it, and Colossal owns equity in the business and supports it by licensing its technology.
