The defense industry is experiencing a disruption not seen in decades, according to Alex Moore, general partner at the Austin, Texas-based technology and biosciences investment firm 8VC.
Drawing on his ample experience in building and backing leading start-ups, Moore shared insights on creating the next generation of transformative defense companies.
Until a few years ago, “We ran the World War II model of tanks and planes… and now it’s a new paradigm; we are rethinking everything,” he told Israeli defense-tech founders and investors while on his first visit to Israel.
Moore’s talk, co-hosted by Kinetica Venture Capital, on building Israel’s next defense prime was held as part of DeepTech Week TLV held on November 4-6.
He heads the Build Program at 8VC, incubating new companies, building talent networks, and providing fundamental operational support, while investing in seed and enterprise-stage ventures across technology and industry.
Moore explained that, as the market at large switches to a new paradigm, “The defense market is experiencing a disruption – and artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy are taking that disruption to the extreme ” – which is “about to unleash innovation, and AI will force that revolution.”
He was Palantir’s first employee, as well as its director of operations, leaving the company in 2010. He co-founded NodePrime in 2013, becoming its chief operating officer three years later. In 2017, Moore left to join Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale at 8VC, which Lonsdale had founded in 2003 along with Peter Thiel, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, Alex Karp, and Nathan Gettings.
8VC has helped fund defense firm Anduril Industries (founded by virtual reality entrepreneur Palmer Luckey), investing $35 million in the company as well as in defense unicorns Epirus, Gallantin, and Saronic.
Saronic recently announced that it was partnering with NVIDIA to accelerate advancements in maritime autonomy and robotics, combining Saronic’s expertise in unmanned surface vessels with NVIDIA’s advanced computing hardware, AI platforms, and simulation tools.
When asked about the most exciting domains in defense-tech, Moore was quick to answer: “Real mission autonomy with ground swarms, Golden Dome, electronic warfare (EW), laser interception technology, and increasing manufacturing.”
He was skeptical about working with the large legacy primes, such as Lockheed Martin or Raytheon, that currently receive 80-85% of the business, and said that the disruption by start-ups in the industry would likely change the way primes act toward smaller defense start-ups.
“People who work in defense take responsibility for societal outcomes,” he said.
Exciting defense-tech domains
Following the talk, Moore told Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post that the US defense market was looking at both Israeli and Ukrainian defense-tech ecosystems, though Israel had the most interesting technology.
“Israel has innovated because of what’s happening here,” he said, adding that the most interesting technology was to be found in drones and in missile interception systems such as Iron Dome and Iron Beam.
While the United States has advanced missile interception capabilities, the Israeli systems have proven themselves against large missile and drone barrages fired by Iran, the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas.
“During my time in Israel, I have been thoroughly impressed by the remarkable advancements in technology and the unwavering personal resolve demonstrated by individuals here,” Moore told D&T.
“At 8VC, we are proud to partner with Kinetica in our shared mission to identify, support, and back the most promising teams in Israel. Our collaboration is driven by mutual belief in the talent and potential that is present here, and we are committed to fostering innovation that will shape the future of the defense industry.”
Kinetica Chairman Yitz Applebaum said that he was excited to expose Moore to Israel in order to help build a larger defense-tech ecosystem in the country.
“It’s a pleasure hosting Alex here in Israel and having the opportunity to hear his insights and vision for the future,” he said.
“Together at Kinetica and 8VC, we hope to build the next generation of defense technology, rooted in ingenuity, operational experience and a clear understanding of the common challenges we face,” Applbaum concluded.