Bulletins

Anduril buys drone company Area-I

Anduril buys drone company Area-I

Area-I's drone being shot out of a helicopter.

Anduril

Anduril, the defense-tech company co-founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey, announced today that it had bought Area-I.

Area-I is best known for producing unmanned aerial vehicles (drones, to everyone else) that the U.S. military has purchased. Its Altius drones can be launched from other airborne vehicles like helicopters for reconnaissance, surveillance and anti-drone missions. Anduril worked with the Trump administration to build a "virtual wall" at the U.S.-Mexico border using its surveillance tech, so it's easy to see how Area-I could fit into that effort.

"This is a great strategic fit for our companies," Anduril co-founder and CEO Brian Schimpf said in a release. "We are increasing Anduril's value to our defense customers. Together with Area-I's proven expertise, we will rapidly advance our shared mission of modernizing the defense capabilities of the U.S. and our allies with transformative technology."

Area-I will continue to operate under its own name, as a subsidiary of Anduril. Last summer, Anduril raised a $200 million Series C round, led by Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the company at $1.9 billion.

Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.

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