Smack Technologies, a frontier artificial intelligence lab co-founded by two MARSOC veterans, has successfully raised $32 million in combined Seed and Series A funding. The investment will scale the company's efforts to deliver advanced decision-making capabilities, termed "Decision Dominance," to the U.S. Department of War. This significant financial milestone underscores the growing importance of AI in enhancing national security and modernizing military operations for future challenges.
Pioneering AI for National Security
Positioning itself as the first frontier AI lab for national security, Smack is developing domain-specific AI models powered by deep reinforcement learning. The company's singular mission is to provide the tools necessary to either deter a third world war or win it if deterrence fails. Its dual product suites, Omega and Alpha, are engineered to break down decision-making silos within defense, enabling rapid, campaign-informed planning across all time horizons.
The core concept behind Smack's technology is Decision Dominance, defined as the ability to analyze immense volumes of multimodal sensor data in real time. This capability allows for converting complex analyses into superior decisions across the military's Kill Chain faster than any adversary. The founders believe this technological edge is essential for the U.S. to maintain its strategic advantage against peer competitors in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
Veteran Leadership and Strategic Vision
The company was co-founded by Andrew Markoff and Clint Alanis, two Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) veterans with over twenty years of combined combat experience. Their firsthand knowledge from two decades of the War on Terror revealed critical gaps in the nation's preparedness for a potential conflict with a peer adversary. This experience directly inspired their mission to build technology that addresses these modern defense challenges.
Co-founder and CEO Andrew Markoff emphasized the urgency of their work, stating that Decision Dominance is the most critical and achievable goal before 2027 to prevent a major conflict. He noted that decision-making processes have not evolved sufficiently in the age of AI and autonomous systems. Smack aims to solve this by developing reasoning models rooted in physics that can perform complex time-space calculations with vital resources in seconds.
Substantial Funding to Fuel Growth
The Series A funding round was co-led by Geodesic Capital and Costanoa Ventures, with the initial Seed round led by Point72 Ventures. The investment also saw participation from a broad coalition of backers, including Scribble Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, and Washington Harbour Partners. This diverse group of deep-tech investors reflects a shared belief in the critical need for Smack's mission in high-stakes environments.
With this new capital, Smack plans to aggressively expand its technical leadership and accelerate the development of its product suites, models, and applications. The funding will enable the company to scale its team and deepen its operational partnerships with the Department of War. This strategic expansion is designed to serve all branches of the military and ensure the widespread adoption of its advanced AI tools.
Smack has already gained significant traction within the defense sector, having secured contracts with multiple branches of the U.S. armed forces. Notable partnerships include work with the Joint Fires Network (JFN) and the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL). These existing agreements provide a strong foundation for the company as it uses its new funding to supercharge research and development efforts.
Investor Confidence in a Critical Mission
Investors have expressed strong confidence in both the team and its vision. Greg Sands, Founder and Managing Partner at Costanoa Ventures, praised Andrew Markoff and his team for demonstrating a rare level of technical leadership and operational judgment. Similarly, Rayfe Gaspar-Asaoka, Partner at Geodesic Capital, highlighted how Smack is building an essential intelligence layer focused on protecting the country and its allies by embedding domain expertise into its AI models.
The successful $32 million fundraising round marks a pivotal moment for Smack Technologies and the broader defense technology sector. With a clear mission, experienced veteran leadership, and robust financial backing, the company is well-positioned to deliver on its promise of achieving Decision Dominance. This infusion of capital will accelerate the development of frontier AI solutions aimed at ensuring the nation's security in an increasingly complex world.