Celebrating a year of progress, purpose, and promising horizons.
VVC Community,
As 2024 ended, we celebrated a year of achievements and milestones, emphasizing the notable impact of investing in dual-use national security technologies led by veterans. These entrepreneurial leaders and their companies are crucial for developing the innovative capabilities our nation requires. Veteran Ventures Capital remains committed to supporting veteran-led enterprises that provide groundbreaking solutions, ensuring the U.S. and its allies maintain a strategic edge. Your partnership enables us to make impactful investments, securing a stronger future. In 2024, our portfolio companies excelled, securing key government contracts and advancing capabilities impacting land, sea and space domains. As we turn our sights to 2025, we are motivated by our progress and grateful for your continued support in enhancing national security and leadership.
Fund II Launch Advances Strategic Investments
In 2024, we began the process of raising Veterans Fund II with a target of $50M. VVC announced a first close at $25 million in May, exceeding Fund I and reaching 50% of our target before mid-year. Our second close this Fall was $40M at 80% of target, and we are on track to oversubscribe in 2025. We’ve earned strong institutional backing adding both State investors and University endowments, and we’re now vetted on Goldman Sachs’ platform.
Fund II made its inaugural investment into Agile Space Industries. Agile Space is tackling the acute shortage of chemical in-space propulsion needs by using novel additive manufacturing techniques. With both US and international customers, and underpinned by a strong book of national security-related business, Agile is meeting a critical need for national security and commercial space infrastructure. This investment closed out the remaining allocation on Agile's $4M convertible note round led by Lockheed Martin Ventures. We except big things from Agile in 2025. See our press release here.
Our second Fund II investment was into Turion Space, a firm at the forefront of solving space's most pressing capability gaps: space domain awareness and non-earth imaging. With purpose-built Droid satellites, Turion is an early leader in the exploding market for non-earth imaging, and will benefit from the government's accelerating trend to commercialize core space functions. Their bespoke integrated technology satellite, ground segment and software stack enable them to take and process thousands of images in the same time their competitors manage to take a dozen pictures -- at a fraction of the price. Our portfolio announcement below has further details, and you can read the press release here.
This year also brought a strategic milestone with our relocation to Virginia, reinforcing our commitment to national security innovation and proximity to key stakeholders.
2024 Portfolio Highlights
In addition to Fund II milestones, our portfolio companies in both Funds have continued to thrive. Below, you'll find select 2024 portfolio highlights. For our existing investors, we will be providing a more thorough portfolio review when we release our Bi-Annual Portfolio Analysis in the coming weeks.
Hidden Level (Fund I & SPV) attained Program of Record status with the US Army’s FoCUS office (a billion-dollar opportunity), solidifying its counter-UAS leadership. The company's Series C round closed over $60M led by DFJ Growth, and VVC followed-on our investment by leading our first-ever SPV syndication. The oversubscription of our Hidden Level SPV further highlights the confidence our investors have in the firm’s strategy and reflects investment acumen in much larger and established funds.
Turion Space (Fund II) announced a $32.6M contract by the U.S. Space Force to launch three small satellites designed to monitor and track objects such as space debris. This contract is part of SpaceWERX Strategic Financing Initiative (STRATFI).
Agile Space Industries (Fund II) announced a $20M investment from Oklahoma to develop the Tulsa Space Center (TSTC), a state-of-the-art testing facility and premier location for in-space propulsion system testing and support.
Asylon Robotics (Fund I) surpassed 100,000 robotic missions, setting a new benchmark in autonomous perimeter security.
NVTS (Fund I) secured multiple multi-million-dollar contracts, advancing its critical support for U.S. and allied military forces and achieving 2.5X YoY revenue growth.
Phase Four (Fund I) expanded its satellite propulsion capabilities through a strategic partnership with Redwire Space (NYSE: RDW). Just after the New Year, Phase Four also announced the successful 1st closing of its Series C financing.
Cambium (Fund I) earned second place in the Hypersonic Cost Reduction Challenge. The company’s high-temperature composite provides a cost-effective, domestically produced solution for hypersonic and aerospace applications, enhancing supply chain security and production efficiency.
Grist Mill Exchange (Fund I) continues delivering exceptional data solutions to their mostly government customers. The company successfully closed the base year of a multi-year IDIQ contract with an intelligence agency customer, netting 8-digit revenue to the company and continued strong YoY growth.
Havenlock (Fund I) signed an agreement with industry-leader Alarm.com to co-develop an exclusive Alarm.com locking solution that integrates into its commercial tech platform.
Looking Ahead to 2025
The coming year presents significant opportunities for Veteran Ventures Capital. With the final close upcoming for Fund II, we welcome new partners who support veteran-led, dual-use national security technology businesses. We continue to engage and support the start-up ecosystem, strengthen our deal flow, and double-down on our active value creation activities. We will also continue to focus on critical deep tech companies advancing space, cyber, AI, advanced materials, autonomy and robotics. By partnering with industry leaders and government entities, we aim to enhance our support model, helping businesses grow, secure contracts, attract premier talent and ultimately build enduring shareholder value. As we enter 2025, we are committed to impacting national security and delivering strong returns, building a legacy of innovation and strength.
Your trust is crucial to our collective success. Onwards and upwards!
Warm regards,
The Veteran Ventures Capital Team
Derren, Josh, Steve, Craig and Paul
