Venture capital is betting on military AI as a tool to speed battlefield decisions.
Los Angeles-based defense software startup Smack Technologies raised $32 million to build AI models that compress the military decision cycle.
Smack’s core concept, “Decision Dominance,” centers on AI systems that ingest massive streams of real-time sensor data and accelerate decisions across the military kill chain.
Its Alpha and Omega systems are designed to support planning from long-term campaign modeling to near-term operations and immediate battlefield decisions.
Speed Over Platforms
The company was founded by Andrew Markoff and Clint Alanis, former US Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) veterans who argue that in future high-intensity warfare, speed will matter more than platforms.
“Decision Dominance will be the deciding factor in preventing WWIII because it’s the only goal that’s achievable before 2027,” said Markoff, framing the company’s technology as a near-term lever for deterring peer conflict.
The funding round was led by Geodesic Capital and Costanoa Ventures, alongside a group of venture backers focused on deep-tech and defense innovation.
“By embedding national security domain expertise directly into AI models, Smack is building the frontier AI lab that delivers an intelligence layer focused on protecting our country and allies,” said Rayfe Gaspar-Asaoka, partner at Geodesic Capital.
