Anduril in Israel: The $61B Bet Hiring Elbit and MAFAT Talent

Reuters reported July 24 that Anduril is in talks to raise at approximately $100 billion — roughly triple the valuation it held fourteen months ago. Israel is not a footnote in that number. It is one of the reasons for it.

By Ronn Torossian

Anduril Industries is raising at a valuation that would put it level with Lockheed Martin. Reuters reported on July 24, 2026 that the Costa Mesa defense company is in discussions for a round valuing it at roughly $100 billion — potentially structured in two tranches, both closing inside the year, with the second stage pricing higher than the first. An Anduril spokesperson said no decisions have been made about any future financing.

Read the sequence. August 2024: $14 billion. June 2025: $30.5 billion on a $2.5 billion Series G led by Founders Fund. May 13, 2026: $61 billion on a $5 billion Series H led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. July 2026: talks at $100 billion. That is a seven-fold re-rating in under two years, and roughly $11.3 billion raised across eight rounds.

Anduril is building in Israel while that curve runs. The two facts are connected.

What changed since June

Valuation in discussion — approximately $100 billion (Reuters, July 24, 2026). Structure possibly two-stage, both tranches within the year. No decisions confirmed by the company.
Last priced round — $5 billion Series H, announced May 13, 2026, at $61 billion. Led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Roughly double the $30.5 billion set by the June 2025 Series G led by Founders Fund.
Total raised — approximately $11.3 billion across eight rounds.
2025 revenue — $2.2 billion. Headcount approximately 7,000, up from about 90 in 2019.
The comparison — at $100 billion Anduril prices alongside Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin — companies with decades of program history and public filings.
CEO — Brian Schimpf. Founder and public face: Palmer Luckey.

The driver, per the reporting: booming military sales and investor appetite around drones, autonomous systems, and missiles amid the U.S. conflict with Iran and the continuing war in Eastern Europe. Which is precisely the operating environment in which Israeli engineering is deepest.

The Israel operation — where it actually stands

Anduril doesn't enter a market. It anchors one.

The company is in advanced talks to stand up research, development, and manufacturing inside Israel. Former Israel Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Amikam Norkin is shortlisted to lead it. Norkin commanded the IAF from 2017 to 2022 and currently serves as Managing Partner of Ace Capital Partners, the defense-and-aerospace venture partnership. A second named candidate: former Planning Directorate chief Amir Abulafia. Candidate interviews have pulled from Elbit Systems and Israel's Directorate of Defense Research and Development — DDR&D, known by its Hebrew acronym MAFAT.

The roadmap, in order: sell to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, partner with Elbit on the Sigma 155 howitzer program, then build a domestic factory.

Deals have already closed. ASIO supplies components for Anduril's unmanned aerial systems. LiteVision, a drone-camera company in the Kinetica portfolio, is under investment review. And one approach failed publicly: Kela Technologies founders declined Luckey's February 2026 acquisition offer — a data point worth holding onto, because it tells you Israeli founders are pricing the re-rating too.

"Israel is the most logical place for Anduril to be. They are interested in investing in startups here, acquiring companies, and potentially, down the road, selling to Israel's defense industry and the IDF."
— Yitz Applbaum, chairman of Kinetica, to Calcalist, June 2026.

The surface Anduril is landing on: NIS 1.08 billion

On January 21, 2026, MAFAT published its annual startup-procurement report. The headline figure: NIS 1.08 billion in government orders placed with Israeli defense-tech startups in 2025. The composition matters more than the total.

AI-driven autonomous platforms — 32.5% of total deal value.
Cyber defense — 17.7%.
Counter-drone hardware — a stated priority category.
Committed R&D allocation to startups — minimum 10% of future MAFAT R&D budgets.
Stage mix — nearly half of MAFAT-funded startups sit at pre-seed or seed.
Ecosystem reach — 300+ startups in active MAFAT relationships, including 86 new companies in the past year.

Autonomy, edge AI, counter-drone — the exact three categories that dominate Anduril's product roadmap — are the same three categories MAFAT is procuring at scale from early-stage Israeli companies. The DDR&D-curated introduction list Luckey received in February wasn't a courtesy. It was the shortlist. (Background: the MAFAT 10% allocation.)

Who runs the room on the Israeli side

Head of DDR&D: Brig. Gen. (Res.) Dr. Daniel Gold, in the role since July 2016. Gold is the Israeli architect of Iron Dome, for which he received the Israel Defense Prize in 2012. Two PhDs from Tel Aviv University. Under his leadership DDR&D has been awarded the National Defense Prize twenty times.

Director General of the Ministry of Defense: Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eyal Zamir. In 2025 Zamir inaugurated the AI and Autonomy Administration under DDR&D — the first new administration inside the ministry in more than twenty years. Its mandate: unify military AI and autonomous-systems development across all IDF branches.

Anduril's roadmap and MAFAT's new administration are pointed at the same targets.

The Palantir precedent

Palantir opened in Tel Aviv in 2013. Over a decade it became one of the highest-signal foreign-tech employers in Israel — recruiting Unit 8200 and Unit 81 alumni, seeding a generation of enterprise-software founders, and giving U.S. federal customers a permanent Israeli engineering line item. Its office now sits at 46 Rothschild Boulevard.

Anduril's arrival is the defense-side version of that pattern, on a compressed timeline and with a war-economy tailwind Palantir never had. Palantir arrived during peacetime with a data-analytics thesis. Anduril arrives after October 7 — into a procurement environment that has restructured itself around autonomous systems, counter-UAS, and edge AI. The categories in which Israeli engineering density is deepest.

Why the $100 billion number matters to Israeli founders

Anduril is the buyer of record for next-generation Western defense systems. A check, a partnership, or a tuck-in from Anduril is a fast track into U.S. Department of Defense pipelines that Israeli startups have historically had to navigate through Lockheed, RTX, or Boeing — slowly. The export-control architecture behind those flows is mapped in Olam's Strategic Technology Trade coverage.

The re-rating changes the math on both sides. A company priced at $100 billion can write a $500 million check without a board fight. It can also afford to lose a deal — which is what happened with Kela. Israeli defense-tech founders now sit across the table from an acquirer whose currency has tripled while their own sector re-rates alongside it.

And a self-described radical Zionist running a $100 billion American defense company — with Netanyahu access, Kushner-adjacent capital via Thrive, and stated intent to build locally — is a different category of strategic asset than another VC office on Rothschild. The conviction backstory: Palmer Luckey: The Radical Zionist.

The Olam Read — three signals to watch

1. Whether the $100 billion round actually prices. Reuters describes talks, not a close, and Anduril has confirmed nothing. A two-stage structure is a hedge — it lets the company take capital now and reprice later if the defense-tech window holds. Watch whether tranche one lands below $100 billion. That's the tell on whether the market is pricing the story or the revenue.

2. The country-lead announcement. Whoever Anduril names sets the acquisition posture. An Elbit hire signals tuck-in M&A. A DDR&D hire signals program capture. Norkin — Air Force — signals airborne-systems capture. Abulafia — Planning Directorate — signals ground-forces-first. The name is the strategy.

3. The first Israeli acquisition. Anduril's U.S. pattern — Blue Force Technologies, Klas, Adranos, Numerica — runs $50–$300 million in-band. A first Israeli deal in that range confirms the compressed Palantir arc. Under $50 million signals acqui-hire: talent capture, not capability capture. The Kela decline suggests founders will hold out, and at a $100 billion valuation they may be right to.

Timeline

August 2024 — Series F. Valuation $14 billion.
June 2025 — $2.5 billion Series G led by Founders Fund. Valuation $30.5 billion.
February 2026 — Luckey lands in Tel Aviv, trip organized by Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital. Private meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz. DDR&D introduces ten Israeli defense-tech startups. Luckey attempts to acquire Kela Technologies; founders decline.
May 13, 2026 — $5 billion Series H announced, led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Valuation $61 billion — roughly double in twelve months.
Q2 2026 — ASIO signs as component supplier for Anduril UAS. LiteVision investment interest confirmed.
June 22, 2026 — Calcalist reports active candidate interviews from Elbit Systems and DDR&D for the Israel country-lead role. Named candidates: Amikam Norkin, Amir Abulafia.
July 24, 2026 — Reuters reports talks at approximately $100 billion, possibly two-stage. Anduril: no decisions made.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Anduril's valuation?

Anduril's last priced valuation is $61 billion, set by a $5 billion Series H announced May 13, 2026 and led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. On July 24, 2026, Reuters reported the company is in talks for a new round at approximately $100 billion, potentially structured in two tranches closing within the year. Anduril has stated that no decisions have been made about future financing. Prior marks: $30.5 billion in June 2025 on a $2.5 billion Series G led by Founders Fund, and $14 billion in August 2024.

Is Anduril opening an office in Israel?

Anduril is in advanced talks to establish research, development, and manufacturing operations inside Israel. Former IAF Commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Amikam Norkin is shortlisted to lead the operation; former Planning Directorate chief Amir Abulafia is also named. Candidates have been interviewed from Elbit Systems and Israel's Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D/MAFAT). The stated roadmap: sell to the Israeli Ministry of Defense first, partner with Elbit on the Sigma 155 howitzer program, then stand up a domestic factory.

Who founded Anduril and what does it build?

Anduril Industries was founded in June 2017 by Palmer Luckey — founder of Oculus VR — with Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, and Brian Schimpf, three Palantir alumni, and Joseph Chen, formerly of Oculus. Brian Schimpf is CEO. The company builds autonomous drones, counter-drone systems, sensor towers, undersea vehicles, solid rocket motors, and the Lattice command-and-control software platform for the U.S. military and allied governments.

How big is Anduril?

2025 revenue was $2.2 billion. Headcount is approximately 7,000, up from roughly 90 in 2019. Total capital raised is approximately $11.3 billion across eight rounds.

What is DDR&D and what is MAFAT?

DDR&D — the Directorate of Defense Research and Development — is the R&D directorate inside Israel's Ministry of Defense. Its Hebrew acronym is MAFAT. It sets national defense R&D policy, funds early-stage defense technology, runs 300+ active startup relationships, and coordinates cross-industrial programs including Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow, and Iron Beam. Its January 2026 report disclosed NIS 1.08 billion in government orders placed with Israeli defense-tech startups during 2025.

Which Israeli startups did Anduril meet?

Ten companies introduced by DDR&D during Palmer Luckey's February 2026 visit: Smart Shooter (since listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange), Kela, Oz, Skana Robotics, Regulus, Magnus Metal, eyesAtop, AriEV, ASIO, and LiteVision. ASIO has signed as a component supplier. LiteVision is under investment review. Kela's founders declined Luckey's acquisition approach.

Why is Anduril expanding into Israel?

Three reasons. Talent: Israel has the deepest non-U.S. concentration of engineers in autonomy, edge AI, sensor fusion, robotics, and counter-drone systems, much of it routed through IDF Unit 8200 and Unit 81 alumni networks. The founder: Luckey is a self-described "radical Zionist" with a stated long-term commitment to Israel. Capital strategy: Anduril is building a local pipeline of acquisition targets and component suppliers inside MAFAT's NIS 1.08 billion procurement flow.

Sources and further reading

Reuters, July 24, 2026 — reporting on talks at approximately $100 billion valuation.
Bloomberg and TechCrunch, May 13, 2026 — $5 billion Series H at $61 billion, led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
Calcalist, June 22, 2026 — Israel country-lead hiring and the Elbit/DDR&D candidate pool.
Israel Ministry of Defense — MAFAT annual report, January 21, 2026. NIS 1.08 billion government-orders data.
Israel Ministry of Defense — AI and Autonomy Administration launch, 2025.
Shawn Ryan Show, February 2025 — Luckey's "radical Zionist" self-description.

Related Olam coverage

Anduril Israel: The Company Reference — full product portfolio, the Rheinmetall and EDGE Group partnerships, and the international expansion pattern.
The Anduril 10 — the ten Israeli defense-tech startups DDR&D walked Palmer Luckey through.
Palmer Luckey: The Radical Zionist — Oculus, the Facebook exit, Anduril, and the doctrine.
The MAFAT 10% Allocation — how Israel's Ministry of Defense funds startups.
Defense Tech Absorbing Israel's Office Towers — the tenant map.
Strategic Technology Trade — U.S.–Israel defense-tech export-control architecture.
Defense — Olam's full coverage of the Israeli and allied defense industry.
Venture & Exits — Israeli venture capital, growth rounds, and M&A.

Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5W AI Communications, the AI Communications Firm. He is the publisher of Everything-PR and the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.

Anduril at $100 Billion — And Israel Is Inside the Story