Overland AI Raises $100 Million to Speed Up Use of Military Land Robots

The Seattle-based defense firm Overland AI Inc. has raised $100 million in new funding to help accelerate the use of robots and other autonomous systems across the US military’s ground forces.

The biggest funding round to date will help the company double manufacturing capacity for its autonomous off-road ground vehicle as well as a kit that can give that functionality to other vehicles.

The round was led by 8VC, whose founder Joe Lonsdale is a co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc. 8VC also was an early investor in fast-growing defense tech firm Anduril Industries Inc. Overland has previously raised $42 million since its founding in 2022.

“We’ve been working with soldiers and Marines, integrating our tech into their highest missions, and demand is accelerating,” Stephanie Bonk, the company’s co-founder, said in an interview.

The Pentagon has boasted of experimenting with ground robots and has spent years vowing to send autonomous vehicles to do the dangerous battlefield tasks. But finding capable technology hasn’t been easy.

Overland AI developed its technology through a four-year US government Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program.