PiggyGPT

Private companiesCovered

Defense Unicorns

San Antonio, Texas, United States · Founded 2021

Defense Unicorns makes Unified Defense Stack (UDS), an open-source platform for packaging, deploying and updating software on military systems that run without a network connection, from aircraft and ships to forward operating bases. Its customers are the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force. In September 2026 the Army awarded it a single-award contract with a $350 million ceiling that lets any Department of War organization order its UDS products.

Profile

What it builds and who buys it

  • ·UDS is a secure, portable, airgap-native runtime platform with tools for packaging, deploying, monitoring and sustaining mission applications.Defense Unicorns (company release via PR Newswire), Jan 13, 2026
  • ·The company named UDS, UDS Registry and UDS Army as the products its Series B would fund.Defense Unicorns (company release via PR Newswire), Jan 13, 2026
  • ·The company said adoption in military systems rose 300% year over year before the Series B, and called its growth profitable. It has published no revenue figure for the period.Defense Unicorns (company release via PR Newswire), Jan 13, 2026
  • ·At the Series A, Maginative reported that the company had bootstrapped to nearly $30 million in annual revenue.Maginative, Mar 7, 2024
  • ·At the Series A the company had more than 125 employees and said it had a $300 million Department of Defense-wide contract for software and generative AI in classified and air-gapped environments.Maginative, Mar 7, 2024
  • ·Its open-source projects include Zarf, a tool for software delivery on disconnected networks, and Pepr, a tool for managing Kubernetes resources. The company says Zarf was donated to the OpenSSF.Defense Unicorns
  • ·In March 2026, with the Air Force Sustainment Center Software Directorate, it installed and upgraded software in the F-22’s open mission system compute enclave on the aircraft in minutes.Defense Unicorns (company release), Mar 17, 2026
  • ·In October 2025 it was awarded a contract to support the Navy’s CANES Next Generation modernization; CANES is the Navy’s program of record for afloat network infrastructure on ships, submarines and shore sites.Defense Unicorns (company release), Oct 27, 2025
  • ·In July 2026 the Navy advanced it to at-sea evaluation under a NIWC Atlantic Other Transaction Agreement, after a CANES Next Generation prototype in which UDS configured hardware and launched software.Defense Unicorns (company release), Jul 15, 2026
  • ·UDS Army, developed with the Army’s DEVCOM C5ISR Center, gives software vendors a path to Impact Level 4 and 5 through pre-authorized Microsoft Azure Government environments.Defense Unicorns (company release via PR Newswire), Feb 19, 2026
  • ·In September 2026 the Defense Innovation Unit selected it to deliver UDS Fleet for Air Mobility Command’s Open Mission Engine program. The company says component software in UDS Fleet has flown on the F-22, F-16 and C-17.Defense Unicorns (company release), Sep 15, 2026
  • ·The Army awarded the $350 million IDIQ on September 24, 2026, with an estimated completion date of September 23, 2031, and received one bid, HigherGov reported. The $350 million is a ceiling for orders.HigherGov, Sep 27, 2026
  • ·The company says its software is deployed across more than 100 mission systems and organizations.Defense Unicorns (company release), Sep 30, 2026
  • ·It can also be bought through a GSA-issued IDIQ for SBIR Phase III orders, the Navy’s SeaPort NxG vehicle and the AWS Marketplace.Defense Unicorns
  • ·Lauren Knausenberger, formerly chief information officer of the Department of the Air Force and chief innovation officer at SAIC, joined as chief business officer in September 2026.Defense Unicorns (company release), Sep 2, 2026

Founders and leadership

  • Rob SlaughterCo-founder and chief executive

    A career in the U.S. Air Force working on space vehicles, computer vision and future capabilities, including as director of Platform One. Holds a Ph.D. in engineering physics.Defense Unicorns

  • Jeff McCoyCo-founder and chief technology officer

    More than 18 years as an active-duty airman, later a senior Air Force civilian, working in SATCOM, communications planning and network engineering. Helped launch Kessel Run, SpaceCAMP and Platform One.Defense Unicorns

  • Andrew GreeneCo-founder

    Engineered defense and national security software at SpaceCAMP and Platform One before the company.Defense Unicorns

Prospects, after the September 2026 Army IDIQ

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

  • ·The customers on file are U.S. military services: the Air Force on the F-22, the Navy in CANES and shipboard evaluation, Air Mobility Command through DIU, and the Army through UDS Army. The September 2026 IDIQ puts UDS Enterprise and UDS Fleet on contract for the whole Department of War, with a $350 million ceiling that is not revenue.Defense Unicorns (company release), Sep 30, 2026
  • ·The only valuation on file is the company’s own, exceeding $1 billion at the January 2026 Series B. The only revenue on file is a reported figure of nearly $30 million from March 2024, with no period stated.Defense Unicorns (company release via PR Newswire), Jan 13, 2026
  • ·For the acquisition read, SAIC and BAE Systems each build on UDS by a cited partnership. Neither holds a cited stake, and the investors on file are venture and growth firms. No talks or approach are on file. The posture is watch.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Funding

Last valuation

$1B

Post-money, Series BDefense Unicorns (company release via PR Newswire), Jan 13, 2026

Last round or tender

$136Mraised

Series BDefense Unicorns (company release via PR Newswire), Jan 13, 2026

Led by Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities fund, with Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, AVP, Uncorrelated Ventures and former CIA director David H. Petraeus. The company stated a valuation exceeding $1 billion, a floor, without saying pre- or post-money. No Form D for the round is on EDGAR; the company’s latest filing is from March 2024.

Latest revenue figure

—

Valuation to revenue

—

Post-money valuation by round

Fewer than two dated figures on file to plot; the table carries what there is.

DateRoundRaisedPost-money
Jan 13, 2026Series BLed by Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities fund, with Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, AVP, Uncorrelated Ventures and former CIA director David H. Petraeus. The company stated a valuation exceeding $1 billion, a floor, without saying pre- or post-money. No Form D for the round is on EDGAR; the company’s latest filing is from March 2024.$136M$1.00B
Mar 7, 2024Series ACo-led by Sapphire Ventures and Ansa Capital. The company’s own history page dates the round to February 2024; the day recorded is the announcement. A Form D records $34,999,979 of equity sold to 3 investors from February 16, 2024, of a $35,000,000 offering. No valuation was stated.$35M—
Sep 21, 2022Form D offeringNo announcement from the company. The filing records $504,329 of equity sold to 19 investors from September 21, 2022, the whole offering, and does not name the round. SecurityWeek put total funding at $35.5 million after the 2024 Series A.——

Primary capital across the rounds on file: $171M

Revenue

No citable revenue figure on file.

Secondary venues

  • Caplightpublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    No public MarketPrice; historical pricing is behind a login, and the page shows only Caplight’s last-round figures, a $1 billion estimated valuation with the January 13, 2026 Series B and $171 million of total funding. It lists the company in San Antonio, Texas.

A venue is listed when its public page named the company on the date shown. A price is the figure that page showed, under the venue’s own name for it and dated as the venue dated it; it is a level the venue publishes, not a trade. Nothing is recorded from behind a login.

Reads

Acquisition: Watch

A cited tie to a plausible buyer: a strategic partner, an investor stake, a tender offer, a stated appetite. Nothing reported.

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

Signals

Named counterparties

Counterparties are named for a cited reason: a partnership, an investment, or a stated appetite. Naming is not a forecast.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Sources

Researched Oct 15, 2026