Chariot Defense, a San Francisco company that builds power systems for military units, announced on 25 February 2026 that it had raised $34m in Series A funding. The company said the round brings its total funding to $41m.
Andreessen Horowitz led the round as a new investor. DCVC, LMNT, Marlinspike, Overmatch, Shield Capital, Ensemble and Trenches Capital also joined for the first time, while existing backers General Catalyst and XYZ Venture Capital took part again. No valuation was disclosed.
The announcement came six months after Chariot left stealth in July 2025. Defense Daily reported at the time that the company had announced an $8m seed round.
“Power on the battlefield is less about how much energy you carry; it is more about how intelligently you control and distribute it.”Adam Warmoth, Founder and CEO, Chariot Defense
What Chariot Defense does
Chariot describes its product as a deployable, software-defined power layer that senses, prioritises and routes power across mission-critical systems in real time. The aim, according to the company, is to let troops keep working without interruptions, a detectable signature or wasted capacity.
The first product line is called Amphora, a family of hybrid power systems that combine energy storage, conversion and distribution. Chariot says the systems ingest power from sources such as solar, generators, vehicles and the grid and supply radios, drones, sensors and directed-energy systems. According to Tectonic, the smaller Amphora 24 fits in a Pelican case, while the larger Amphora 400 can be wheeled out to supply heavier loads such as electronic warfare and command-and-control equipment.
The company was founded in 2024 by chief executive Adam Warmoth, whom Tectonic described as an alumnus of Anduril and Archer. Chariot said it has sold Amphora systems directly to customers after recent exercises, including commercial customers, and that the round follows new sales and contracts with the US Army and the Defense Innovation Unit's Project GI.
What the money is for
Chariot said the funding will speed up production of its Amphora products and support development of an operating system for the command, control and distribution of electric power on the battlefield. It also plans to hire more mechanical, electrical and software engineers with experience in high-voltage energy storage, power electronics and distributed systems.
Warmoth told Tectonic the money would go to scaling production, investing in power-optimising software and exploring new product lines. He said the company had set up a new production line for the Amphora 24 and Amphora 400 in San Francisco and was working with Pentagon leaders to get onto programmes of record, where he said it was gaining traction.
Why investors backed it
Erin Price-Wright, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said in the announcement that commercial advances in batteries, microcontrollers and power electronics were arriving faster than in defence, where much equipment still relies on legacy systems. She said Chariot was bringing that innovation into national security.
Ross Fubini, managing partner at XYZ Venture Capital, said the firm was backing the company again because it had taken systems to the field early and iterated quickly, which he likened to Anduril's approach.
Warmoth said Chariot went from its seed round to putting equipment into force-on-force exercises within six months, and generated revenue within twelve months. In an interview with Tectonic, he said military planners think in gallons and miles per gallon today, and that Chariot wants to raise the importance of the kilowatt hour.
The funding so far
Chariot's disclosed funding comes in two steps: the $8m seed announced in July 2025 and the $34m Series A. The company's own release puts total funding at $41m. The lead investor on the seed round was not named in the sources reviewed for this article.
Company website: chariotdefense.com