Defense Unicorns, a veteran-owned company that builds software delivery tools for disconnected military environments, raised a $136m Series B, announced on 13 January 2026. Bain Capital's Tech Opportunities fund led the round, and the company said it values the business at more than $1bn, according to Pulse 2.0 and Intelligence Community News.
Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, AVP, Uncorrelated Ventures and David H. Petraeus, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, also participated.
“Before UDS, there was no open, secure, and airgap-native modern software delivery capability for warfighters.”Jeff McCoy, Co-Founder and CTO, Defense Unicorns
What Defense Unicorns does
The company's main product is Unicorn Delivery Service, or UDS, software for deploying and updating systems in air-gapped environments where there is no connection to the public internet. Intelligence Community News described it as delivering secure software updates to submarines, ships, aircraft and forward operating bases.
Pulse 2.0 reported that its technology is used by operators of critical systems across the US Navy, Army, Air Force and Space Force. Neither report named specific customers.
Chief technology officer Jeff McCoy, a co-founder, said: "Before UDS, there was no open, secure, and airgap-native modern software delivery capability for warfighters." Pulse 2.0 listed Rob Slaughter, Jeff McCoy and Andrew Greene as founders, and said the company was founded in 2021.
Washington Technology likewise described the company as veteran-owned and co-founded in 2021 by Slaughter, McCoy and Andrew Greene. It said the software delivers, installs and updates code in environments isolated from external networks.
Growth
The company said adoption of its technology rose 300% year over year and described its growth as profitable. Both figures come from the company and were not independently verified. Chief executive Rob Slaughter said Defense Unicorns gives the nation a wartime software advantage. Intelligence Community News said the 300% rise was in adoption in military systems, and that the platform also supports partners and allies of the United States.
Intelligence Community News attributed the valuation to the company's fast and profitable growth and described it as making Defense Unicorns a unicorn. Neither report gave revenue figures.
What the money is for
Pulse 2.0 reported that the funds will go to scaling the company, integrating open-source and commercial dual-use technology, and developing its UDS products. These include the core runtime platform, a mission-critical software registry and UDS Army. Washington Technology reported that the money will go toward software delivery, supply chain security and Army missions.
The sources do not give a headcount or a headquarters city. Search results gave conflicting locations, so none is stated here.
Who invested
Dewey Awad, a partner at Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, said Defense Unicorns plays a vital role in helping the military modernise mission systems. Marco DeMeireles, co-founder and managing partner at Ansa Capital, said his firm had partnered with the company since the Series A, which means an earlier round existed. Its size was not given in the articles reviewed, so no earlier funding is listed.
Petraeus is the only individual investor named.
Company website: defenseunicorns.com