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The San Francisco Bay Area Defense, Space & Energy Ecosystem
Where the Bay Area's defense, space and energy companies are, what they build, who funds them and who is hiringPublished · By DefDex
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Short answer
What is the San Francisco Bay Area defense, space and energy ecosystem?
The Bay Area combines defense software and drone startups in San Francisco, electric-aircraft and autonomy companies around Silicon Valley, and national laboratories with fission and fusion developers in the East Bay. Its 280 companies in this guide, which also include the region's AI-application and chip companies, disclosed $8.47 billion of equity in 2025 and $19.11 billion in 2026 through October 13.
Key takeaways
- 117 of the 280 companies in this guide are in San Francisco, followed by 84 in Silicon Valley and the South Bay, 43 in the East Bay and 34 on the Peninsula.
- The region's companies disclosed $8.47 billion of equity in 2025 and $19.11 billion in 2026 through October 13, up from $4.60 billion in 2024. OpenAI, Anthropic and Scale AI are not counted.
- The region's startups hold 644 federal prime awards in DefDex with $1.00 billion obligated, led by the Department of Energy, the Air Force, the Department of State and NASA.
- On October 13, 2026, these companies listed 3,188 open roles located in the region on their public job boards.
- Kairos Power, Oklo, Deep Fission and Hadron Energy are developing fission reactors in the region, alongside fusion developers such as Pacific Fusion, Inertia and Marathon Fusion.
The San Francisco Bay Area is better known for software than for hardware, but its defense, space and energy companies now span the whole region: satellite makers and counter-drone startups in San Francisco, fusion and fission developers in the East Bay, and electric-aircraft, laboratory and autonomy companies around Silicon Valley. Alongside them are the region's robotics, AI-application and chip companies. This guide maps where DefDex's Bay Area companies are, what they make, who funds and buys from them, and who is hiring.
Where Are the Companies?
San Francisco · 117 companies
San Francisco is the region's largest cluster, and its companies skew toward software, sensing and satellites. Space companies include Astranis (small geostationary communications satellites), Capella Space (synthetic aperture radar), Planet Labs (Earth observation) and Loft Orbital. Defense software and AI companies include Primer and Legion Intelligence, and a group focused on counter-drone work: Sentradel, Earendil Robotics, Surtr Defense Systems and Aurelius Systems. Hadron Energy, Marathon Fusion and Maritime Fusion work on nuclear and fusion energy, and Cognition and Thinking Machines are headquartered in the city.
Peninsula · 34 companies
The Peninsula runs from South San Francisco to Menlo Park. Zipline's autonomous delivery drones come from South San Francisco, and Skydio builds autonomous drones in San Mateo, where Fireworks AI and Verkada are also based. Redwood City hosts GridCARE, helm.ai and Pilgrim (battlefield biotechnology), while Menlo Park hosts Mainspring Energy, LeoLabs, SRI International and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. San Carlos is home to Beacon AI and Cowboy Space Corporation (Aetherflux), and Burlingame to Peak Energy and Watchtower Labs.
Silicon Valley and the South Bay · 84 companies
Silicon Valley and the South Bay hold the region's largest group of electric-aircraft, chip and energy-storage companies. Lanteris Space Systems builds satellite buses in Palo Alto and Mountain View, and the Defense Innovation Unit is in Mountain View. Startups include Applied Intuition (vehicle software with a defense unit), Vannevar Labs and Rhombus Power (AI for national security), Archer Aviation in San Jose, Joby Aviation in Santa Cruz and Wisk Aero (electric aircraft), and Reliable Robotics (autonomous flight). Cerebras and Applied Intuition are in Sunnyvale, Oklo is in Santa Clara, and Antora Energy, QuantumScape, Bloom Energy and Ayar Labs are in San Jose.
East Bay · 43 companies
The East Bay combines national laboratories with energy and fusion startups. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory sit alongside Kairos Power's high-temperature reactor work in Alameda, Deep Fission in Berkeley, and the fusion companies Pacific Fusion (Fremont) and Inertia (Livermore). Saildrone, Astra, Rondo Energy, Pyka and Sila Nanotechnologies are in Alameda, Amprius Technologies in Fremont, and PG&E is headquartered in Oakland.
North Bay · 2 companies
The North Bay is a small presence in this guide: iMETALX in Sausalito, which works on in-space servicing, and Keysight Technologies in Santa Rosa.
What Do They Build?
Counter-drone, autonomy and defense software
Many defense companies in the region sell software or sensors rather than platforms. Primer, Vannevar Labs, Rhombus Power and Legion Intelligence build AI for intelligence and planning workflows. Sentradel, Earendil Robotics, IMPACT Drones, Surtr Defense Systems and Aurelius Systems work on counter-drone interceptors, sensors and directed energy. Skydio, Saildrone and Scout AI build autonomous aircraft, vessels and ground vehicles, and Theseus, ANELLO Photonics and AOSense build navigation for GPS-denied environments. Revere builds tactical mesh communications, Bulwark Dynamics autonomous vessels, and Chariot Defense battery-based tactical microgrids.
Space: satellites, radar and in-orbit services
The region builds satellites and the ground and software layers around them. Astranis, Capella Space, Planet Labs, Muon Space and Loft Orbital operate or build satellites, Array Labs is developing space-based radar, and LeoLabs tracks objects in low Earth orbit. Cascade Space and Azora build ground stations, Momentus and iMETALX work on orbital transport and servicing, and Aetherflux (listed as Cowboy Space Corporation) is developing space-based power beaming. Astra, based in Alameda, builds launch vehicles and satellite engines.
Nuclear, fusion and energy storage
Energy is one of the largest parts of the region's hardware base. Kairos Power, Oklo, Deep Fission and Hadron Energy are developing fission reactors. Fusion developers include Pacific Fusion, Inertia, Marathon Fusion, Maritime Fusion and Helicity Space, which is working on in-space fusion propulsion. Storage and power companies include Antora Energy, Rondo Energy, Noon Energy, Peak Energy, Lyten, QuantumScape, Mainspring Energy and Bloom Energy, and XGS Energy is developing closed-loop geothermal.
Autonomous and electric aircraft
Aviation is a fourth theme. Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation and Wisk Aero are developing electric aircraft, with Archer and Joby also pursuing hybrid VTOL work for defense. Zipline and Matternet run drone delivery, and Reliable Robotics, Pyka and Grid Aero work on autonomous aircraft. LTA Research and Float Cargo are developing airships.
AI, compute and robotics
A large part of the region's private capital goes to companies outside defense, space and energy. Cognition and Fireworks AI build AI software and tools, Cerebras and Ayar Labs build AI compute hardware and optical interconnects, and Lumilens is developing photonic interconnects for AI data centers. Bedrock Robotics, Sunday Robotics and The Bot Company build autonomous construction equipment and home robots, and Verkada makes cloud-managed security cameras.
How Much Private Capital Is Flowing In?
Disclosed equity rounds for companies based in the region, by announcement year. Debt facilities, grants, secondary share sales and public offerings are excluded, and a tranche already counted inside a later headline round is counted once. 2026 is year to date.
| Year | Disclosed equity | Rounds |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $884M | 27 |
| 2021 | $3.56B | 50 |
| 2022 | $1.81B | 38 |
| 2023 | $2.39B | 46 |
| 2024 | $4.60B | 68 |
| 2025 | $8.47B | 97 |
| 2026 | $19.11B | 118 |
Public offerings are reported separately: Planet Labs’s SPAC (Dec 7, 2021, $590M); QuantumScape’s SPAC (Nov 25, 2020, $500M); Deep Fission’s IPO (Jun 17, 2026, $40.0M); Deep Fission’s SPAC (Sep 8, 2025, $30.0M); Astra’s SPAC (Feb 2, 2021, $500M); Cerebras Systems’s IPO (May 13, 2026, $5.55B); Kodiak’s SPAC (Sep 24, 2025, $275M); Velo3D’s SPAC (Sep 29, 2021, $274M); Hadron Energy’s SPAC (May 26, 2026, $31.0M).
Largest rounds since 2025
| Company | Round | Announced | Amount | Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Series E+ | Sep 8, 2026 | $2.00B | $48.00B |
 | Series D | Jul 16, 2026 | $1.50B | $17.50B |
 | Series E+ | Sep 30, 2025 | $1.10B | $8.10B |
| Series E+ | Feb 3, 2026 | $1.00B | $23.00B |
| Series D | May 27, 2026 | $1.00B | $26.00B |
 | Growth | Jun 12, 2025 | $850M | — |
 | Series E+ | Jan 21, 2026 | $800M | $7.60B |
 | Series C | Aug 6, 2026 | $700M | $5.51B |
| Growth | Nov 6, 2025 | $650M | — |
 | Series E+ | Jun 17, 2025 | $600M | $15.00B |
Antora Energy | Series C | Jul 30, 2026 | $550M | — |
 | Undisclosed | Feb 18, 2026 | $528M | — |
Who Are the Government Customers?
Startups in the region hold 644 federal prime awards in DefDex, with $1.00B obligated. Obligations are money committed, not contract ceilings; subcontracts and classified work do not appear.
| Awarding agency | Obligated |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | $256M |
| U.S. Air Force | $233M |
| U.S. Department of State | $152M |
| NASA | $83.9M |
| U.S. Department of War | $63.0M |
| U.S. Department of Commerce | $38.9M |
| Startup | Obligated |
|---|---|
| $151M |
 | $136M |
 | $111M |
 | $87.1M |
 | $72.5M |
 | $44.1M |
 | $35.5M |
 | $31.9M |
Who Is Hiring?
3,188 open roles located in the region were listed on 135 companies’ public job boards on Oct 13, 2026. Companies without a public board are not counted.
| Company | Open roles in the region |
|---|---|
| 264 |
| 223 |
 | 181 |
| 135 |
 | 129 |
 | 108 |
 | 99 |
| 92 |
| 80 |
| 63 |
All 280 Companies
| Company | Area | Focus |
|---|---|---|
 | East Bay | Spacetime network orchestration and laser communications |
 | San Francisco | Provides regulatory data, policy intelligence and automated workflows. |
 | San Francisco | Simulation and synthetic-reality image generators for military training |
 | San Francisco | Drone-borne subsurface threat (landmine/IED) detection |
 | San Francisco | AeroVect deploys turnkey ground handling automation solutions that reshape how airlines and airports run airside operations, delivering... |
 | San Francisco | Edge computers and autonomy for spacecraft |
 | East Bay | U.S. |
 | San Francisco | AiNEKKO builds composable silicon for edge AI inference. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Drone detection, identification and airspace security |
 | East Bay | Explore AiStrike: a cutting-edge cybersecurity platform leveraging Composite AI and automation to empower SOC teams. |
 | San Francisco | Diamond-cooled GaN RF electronics and thermal management for satellites and compute |
 | San Francisco | Altara builds AI agents that help frontier industries like semiconductors, batteries, and advanced materials accelerate R&D through manufacturing by... |
 | Peninsula | Ambient.ai is transforming physical security with computer vision intelligence, empowering security teams with automated threat detection and visual... |
 | San Francisco | Mass-manufacturable compact gas turbines |
 | East Bay | Silicon-anode high-energy batteries for drones and aviation |
 | San Francisco | Andromeda Surgical is pioneering a new paradigm in robotic surgery, initially focusing on endourology. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Silicon photonic optical gyroscopes and GPS-denied navigation |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Anjuna Seaglass virtualizes modern CPUs and cloud infrastructure services to offer hardware-enforced isolation that protects from unauthorized access... |
 | East Bay | Our enzymatic DNA synthesis platform removes the constraints of assembly-based methods, enabling direct synthesis of complex sequences up to 900 bp... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Software for satellite design, simulation and operations |
 | Peninsula | Transforming pharmaceutical supply chains using synthetic biology, to end drug shortages and unlock new opportunities in development and discovery |
 | San Francisco | Anthrogen uses AI-designed enzymes make chemicals cheaper and faster than traditional processes using abundant resources as the feedstock. |
Antora Energy | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Carbon-block thermal batteries for industrial heat and power |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Anvil Robotics builds a composable hardware and software platform for developing, training, and deploying physical AI. |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Atom-interferometry inertial navigation, clocks and gravity sensors |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | LEO relay network with RF and optical links |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Vehicle software, autonomy and simulation with dedicated defense unit |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Midnight eVTOL and hybrid VTOL defense aircraft (with Anduril) |
 | Peninsula | Deploy Physical AI agents powered by Newton foundation model. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Aria Networks engineers intelligence into every layer of the network with microsecond telemetry, an intelligent Network OS, and optimized hardware... |
 | Peninsula | Lightweight solar power for space infrastructure |
 | San Francisco | Continuously improve AI agents with agent observability, evaluation, tracing, and experimentation. |
 | Peninsula | Back-office platform for defense-technology companies covering compliance, accreditation, contracting support, payroll and HR. |
 | San Francisco | Mobile modular edge data centers and edge software |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Armadin is an AI-powered red teaming platform that continuously finds and eliminates exploitable risk across an organization's attack surface... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Distributed space-based radar for 3D earth imaging |
 | East Bay | Continuous carbon-fiber additive molding for drone and aerospace parts |
 | Peninsula | Develops robotic depots for charging, cleaning and inspecting autonomous vehicle fleets. |
| East Bay | Rocket 4 launch vehicle and satellite engines |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Astral Materials is catalyzing humanity's next material age — where microgravity is used as a tool to advance Earth's existing technologies and... |
| San Francisco | Small GEO and MEO communications satellites |
 | San Francisco | Turbo-electric adaptive jet engine |
 | San Francisco | Atmo is revolutionizing meteorology by harnessing artificial intelligence to deliver weather forecasts that are up to 50% more accurate, 100 times... |
 | East Bay | Atom Computing is a pioneering company in the field of quantum computing, specializing in building highly scalable, gate-based quantum computers... |
 | San Francisco | Autonomous directed-energy counter-drone systems |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Ayar Labs’ CPO solutions connect thousands of GPUs across multiple racks into a single unified cluster via optical fabric, delivering the... |
 | San Francisco | Modular optical ground stations for laser downlinks |
 | Peninsula | AI pilot assistance and flight data for military and commercial aircraft |
 | San Francisco | Becoming builds Developmental Intelligence: AI predicting how organisms change over time, using virtual organism models and a robotic... |
 | San Francisco | Bedrock Robotics builds autonomous operating systems for heavy construction equipment, using ML models to handle complex earthmoving without an... |
 | San Francisco | Hardware acceleration for encrypted computation. |
 | San Francisco | We're AI and robotics researchers, graphics engineers and infrastructure engineers. |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Solid-oxide fuel cells and electrolyzers for onsite power |
 | San Francisco | AI-powered firmware platform for embedded hardware teams. |
 | San Francisco | Bucket Robotics builds systems that make manufacturing quality transferable, traceable, and trusted across production lines. |
 | Peninsula | Autonomous vessels for contested maritime logistics |
 | San Francisco | Synthetic aperture radar satellites and imagery |
 | East Bay | Cartken autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) automate material movement and interbuilding logistics across factories, labs, and warehouses. |
 | San Francisco | Phased-array ground stations for lunar and deep-space comms |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Develops computing infrastructure for AI inference. |
 | Peninsula | Tactical microgrids: battery storage and power distribution for forward units |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Agentic AI for semiconductor design and verification. |
 | San Francisco | Develops climate-resilience technology for agriculture, food and beverage businesses. |
 | Peninsula | Clippership is revolutionizing maritime freight by designing, building, and operating autonomous, wind-powered cargo vessels that transport... |
 | San Francisco | Develops AI agents for investigating and resolving software vulnerabilities. |
 | Peninsula | Cognichip builds a physics-informed foundation AI model for semiconductor design, trained across the full design stack. |
| San Francisco | Cognition AI is an applied artificial intelligence lab best known for creating Devin, the AI software engineer. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Our imaging solutions empower autonomous machines with human-like perception, serving defense, heavy equipment, and automotive industries. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Autonomous data discovery, classification, risk monitoring, and remediation with Concentric AI, the Data Security Governance Platform. |
 | San Francisco | Conductor Quantum is an innovative company developing artificial intelligence-powered software to automate qubit creation and control, aiming to... |
 | San Francisco | Convey is an all-in-one platform to train, ship, and manage enterprise‑grade digital teammates that work autonomously in the background. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | AI native physical security platform for video, access, visitors, and emergency response. |
CoreElement.AI | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | From raw geophysical data to bankable resource report - one AI platform. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Develops autonomous drones and sensors for warehouse inventory tracking. |
 | Peninsula | Space-based power beaming, orbital compute and launch |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Operationalize Trusted AI governance with Credo AI: discover AI, enforce policies, prove compliance, and manage risk across every model, agent, and... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | CyCognito is a cybersecurity company specializing in external attack surface management and continuous threat exposure management. |
 | San Francisco | Tankless breathing equipment for extreme environments. |
 | San Francisco | We build the infrastructure and models that make AI run at the speed of reality. |
 | East Bay | Borehole small modular pressurized-water reactors |
 | San Francisco | AI-enhanced digital night vision |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | DoD commercial-technology prototyping and contracting |
 | San Francisco | AI-native security that thinks like an elite security research team and works across your code, dependencies, infrastructure, and live environment. |
 | San Francisco | Develops AI agents to discover new materials for semiconductor chips. |
 | San Francisco | Reusable reentry vehicles for in-space manufacturing |
 | San Francisco | Natural-language tasking software for autonomous drone patrols |
 | San Francisco | Ditto is the only edge-native, mobile database that can consistently support your business anytime, anywhere. |
 | East Bay | Develops wave-powered ocean sensing systems. |
 | San Francisco | Domino Data Lab empowers the largest AI-driven enterprises to build and operate AI at scale. |
 | San Francisco | See every inch of your site with DroneDeploy. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Intelligence that Runs Manufacturing Operations. |
 | San Francisco | Counter-drone sensors, interceptors and operator training |
 | Peninsula | We are a vertically integrated AI-powered explorer that discovers, develops, and owns critical mineral mines. |
 | East Bay | Plasma tunnel-boring for underground power lines |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Military exoskeletons for load carriage |
 | Peninsula | Electroflow Technologies uses lithium-selective electrodes to extract battery-grade lithium directly from low-grade brines, bypassing costly... |
 | East Bay | Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant designed to help researchers and organizations automate and accelerate evidence-based research. |
 | Peninsula | Elio builds a reconfigurable optical sensor that lets AI shape how it sees: inventing new ways to sense, directing detail where it's needed, and... |
 | San Francisco | Flight computer and simulation stack for aerospace autonomy |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Empower communities to take proactive steps against wildfire threats today. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | AI Compute from the Edge-to-Cloud for Every Business. |
 | San Francisco | Encord is a leading software company specializing in multimodal data labeling, curation, and evaluation for AI development. |
 | San Francisco | Aviation engineering for aircraft records, certification evidence, compliance, transitions, AOG support, and STC programs. |
 | East Bay | EnerVenue designs nickel-hydrogen batteries for grid-scale, long-duration storage — 30-year design life, zero thermal runaway risk, no augmentation... |
 | San Francisco | Eon is building the full-stack platform for human uploading, scanning and reconstructing a digital replica of a person at the cellular level using... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | AI autonomy modules for spacecraft navigation and rendezvous |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Exaforce has materially improved our Detection and Response operations. |
 | San Francisco | Extropic is building a new type of AI chip that uses thermodynamic fluctuations—normally seen as noise—to perform efficient probabilistic... |
 | San Francisco | Phased-array flat-panel satellite antennas |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Eliminate energy waste with Ferveret's Adaptive Phase Cooling. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | The AI Control Plane for enterprises. |
| Peninsula | Fireworks’ state of the art training and inference platform take you beyond the frontier, transforming open models into your specialized intelligence. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Replace your VPN with Firezone, an open-source zero trust access platform built on WireGuard®. |
 | San Francisco | Flapping Airplanes is an AI research lab focused on biologically inspired, data-efficient learning. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | In-space manufacturing of ZBLAN optical fiber |
 | San Francisco | Autonomous long-range cargo airships |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | FlyX is a physical AI company that turns existing power infrastructure into a distributed energy network for autonomous drones, enabling persistent... |
 | San Francisco | Provides an operating layer for robots and their data. |
 | San Francisco | Humanoid robots, marketed for military and industrial work |
 | San Francisco | Foundry Robotics is an AI-native manufacturing partner using modular robotic cells to assemble complex electromechanical systems. |
 | San Francisco | Agentic data platform for robotics. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Frore Systems is the developer of breakthrough thermal technology for consumer devices. |
 | East Bay | Pulsed-power fusion drivers and radiation-effects testing |
Fuse Federal | East Bay | Federal subsidiary of fusion company Fuse that provides radiation-effects testing services to U.S. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Gaia 5G designs and manages resilient enterprise networks across fiber, wireless, cellular, satellite, and private wireless. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | geCKo Materials is a bio-inspired, NASA-certified Dry Adhesive that is ultra-strong, reusable, leaves no residue, and requires no force to detach. |
 | San Francisco | Autonomous robots for in-orbit assembly, repair and manufacturing |
 | Peninsula | At Generalist, we are on a mission to build general intelligence for the physical world. |
 | East Bay | Fast-supply satellite components |
 | San Francisco | Gimlet Labs is an applied research lab focused on building high performance AI systems. |
 | Peninsula | Our fleet of self-driving Glydcars work in harmony on dedicated guideways to provide you with a congestion-free ride every time. |
 | East Bay | Glyphic Biotechnologies is a biotechnology company based in Berkeley, California, pioneering next-generation protein sequencing technology. |
GovDash | San Francisco | Dash is the AI built to win government contracts. |
 | San Francisco | GovGuard is building AI agents that automate government workflows, starting with FOIA requests. |
 | San Francisco | Reusable orbital drones for hosted payloads and orbital compute |
 | San Francisco | Drone-based RF sensing and emitter geolocation |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Autonomous long-range logistics aircraft for contested environments |
 | Peninsula | Grid-capacity analytics to site data-center load |
 | San Francisco | Pole-mounted grid sensors for utility monitoring and wildfire risk |
 | San Francisco | GRU Space is building the world's first lunar hotel using inflatable habitats and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) to process Moon regolith... |
 | San Francisco | 10 MW micro modular reactor |
 | San Francisco | Heirloom is restoring balance to our atmosphere by removing 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide. |
 | East Bay | Fusion propulsion and power for in-space use |
 | San Francisco | Heliux enables engineering and manufacturing businesses to manage end-to-end operations on a single platform. |
 | Peninsula | Helix delivers clinical genomic testing, population health programs, and the world's largest clinico-genomic database for research & discovery. |
 | Peninsula | Helm.ai delivers AI-first perception, planning, and simulation models for real-time deployment and scalable training—from Level 2 to Level 4... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Solid-state transformers for grid and data centers |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | SatPaq compact secure satellite communicator |
 | San Francisco | Horizon3 uses real-world attacks to safely show what attackers can actually do in your environment—so you can fix and prove what matters. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Build profitable AI clouds. |
 | Peninsula | Humans& is a frontier AI lab building models that strengthen human understanding, trust, and collaboration. |
 | San Francisco | Humble Robotics builds autonomous, electric freight haulers that integrate tractor, trailer, and AI control into one cabless platform. |
 | North Bay | In-space servicing and space-domain vehicles |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Immortal is building the world’s most powerful hyperscale platform for enterprises to enable a new generation of applications at planetary and... |
 | San Francisco | Autonomous interceptor drones for base and infrastructure protection |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Modern life depends on critical materials. |
 | San Francisco | Impulse Labs is a pioneering manufacturer of electric home appliances dedicated to reducing natural gas consumption and promoting sustainable living. |
 | San Francisco | Verify drivers, monitor shipments, and preserve delivery evidence with Indemni. |
 | East Bay | Laser-driven inertial fusion |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | InOrbit.AI is an AI-powered robot orchestration platform driving software-defined operations at scale with Space Intelligence. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Find and fix known and unknown issues, improve yields, and transform operations using Instrumental's Manufacturing Acceleration Platform |
 | San Francisco | Integrated Reasoning is revolutionizing combinatorial optimization by developing IRX-Honu, the world's first microarchitecture designed to eliminate... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Invisible AI is a visual intelligence platform that works with operators to ensure manufacturing processes are done correctly every time. |
 | San Francisco | Production systems for precision-strike and counter-drone equipment |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Provides an AI governance platform for enterprises. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Electric air taxi; hybrid VTOL work for defense |
 | San Francisco | Juxta delivers infrastructure-free positioning for people, assets, and robots. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | The Kai Agentic AI Platform does the actual security work, autonomously, continuously, across threat intelligence, exposure management, detection... |
| East Bay | Fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors |
 | North Bay | Electronic test, measurement and EDA with aerospace/defense/government unit |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Autonomous trucking and military autonomous ground vehicles |
 | San Francisco | LangChain enables every company to own their intelligence. |
Lanteris Space Systems | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | GEO comsat buses and national-security satellites (e.g. SDA Tracking Layer) |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | East Bay | Energy storage, grid, materials and accelerator research |
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | East Bay | Nuclear security, NIF fusion ignition, HPC |
 | San Francisco | AI agents for national-security workflows on classified and air-gapped networks |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Liberate AI from hardware limits. |
 | Peninsula | Ground radars and LEO object catalog for space-domain awareness |
 | East Bay | Light Links' Wi-OW™ delivers fiber-like speeds up to 25 Gbps via infrared light — secure, RF-free wireless for defense, industrial & enterprise use. |
 | East Bay | Ion-exchange direct lithium extraction |
 | East Bay | Streamline global translation with AI. |
 | East Bay | Limelight Steel, based in Oakland, California, is pioneering zero-emissions steel production through its patented laser furnace technology. |
 | San Francisco | Living Carbon uses gene editing technology and proprietary forestry tools to develop high-yield biomass projects on degraded land. |
 | San Francisco | Satellite infrastructure-as-a-service and hosted payloads |
 | East Bay | Kinetic launch gun for hypersonic testing and cargo launch |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Rigid helium airships (Pathfinder 1) |
 | San Francisco | Lumari handles direct procurement operations with always-on AI systems that monitor, coordinate, and take action from sourcing to delivery. |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Lumilens provides next-gen photonic interconnects for massively scaling out – and scaling up – AI compute infrastructure. |
 | San Francisco | Lumos is a Silicon Valley-based software company pioneering the first Autonomous Identity Platform, designed to automatically discover and manage... |
Lunar Energy | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Home batteries and virtual power plant software |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Lithium-sulfur batteries and energy storage; acquired Northvolt assets |
 | East Bay | Electrolytic magnesium from seawater and brines |
| Peninsula | Fuel-flexible linear generators for onsite power |
 | San Francisco | Make Sunsets is pioneering a bold approach to climate mitigation by deploying sunlight-reflecting particles into the stratosphere — a modern... |
 | Peninsula | We are scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and dreamers who are building the CRISPR platform to deliver on the full promise of genetic medicine. |
 | San Francisco | Operates energy and computing infrastructure, including data centers and digital-asset operations. |
 | San Francisco | Fusion fuel-cycle processing (metal foil pumps) |
 | San Francisco | Software-led critical-minerals mining and refining |
 | San Francisco | HTS tokamak reactors for ship propulsion |
 | Peninsula | Material Security is a cybersecurity company specializing in unified detection and response for cloud office environments, specifically Google... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Drone delivery systems with FAA type certificate |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | MatX is revolutionizing artificial intelligence by designing high-throughput chips specifically optimized for large language models (LLMs). |
 | San Francisco | Medra is revolutionizing biological research by providing an autonomous robotic system that automates complex laboratory protocols across genomics... |
 | San Francisco | Mendra is an AI-native biopharma company acquiring and developing therapies for rare diseases. |
 | San Francisco | Merge Labs builds next-gen brain-computer interfaces using molecules and ultrasound instead of implanted electrodes, enabling far greater scale... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Microwave Power Products manufactures RF and microwave electron devices for aerospace and defense. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Mind Robotics builds a collaborative robot platform using Physical AI to perform generalizable tasks in industrial manufacturing. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Orbital service vehicles and in-space transportation |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Satellite constellations for wildfire, weather and mission data |
 | East Bay | Navier is pioneering the future of waterborne transportation by developing advanced zero-emission marine vessels that combine cutting-edge... |
 | San Francisco | NetworkOcean is pioneering the development of underwater data centers, aiming to enhance performance and sustainability in data processing. |
 | San Francisco | Nine Fives LLC is a manufacturer of next-generation RF Test Equipment. |
 | East Bay | Nitricity is transforming agriculture by producing plant-based, climate-smart fertilizers using air, water, renewable energy, and agricultural waste... |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Noble Machines builds humanoid robots for hazardous industrial work. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Ultra-long-duration (100+ hour) storage |
 | East Bay | Noya is pioneering a scalable, cost-effective Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology aimed at accelerating the world’s transition to carbon negativity. |
 | San Francisco | Simulation for training and validating defense autonomy |
 | San Francisco | Global demand for critical minerals is rising while discovery rates fall. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Aurora fast-reactor powerhouses, fuel recycling and isotopes |
Orbital Sidekick | San Francisco | Hyperspectral satellite imagery |
 | East Bay | Pulser-driven inertial fusion |
PARC | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), founded by Xerox in 1970 and known for Ethernet, laser printing and the Alto personal computer, was donated by... |
 | East Bay | Autonomous boring system for underground electrical conduit |
 | Peninsula | Sodium-ion grid battery storage systems |
 | San Francisco | Periodic Labs builds AI scientists paired with autonomous physical labs in a closed-loop system where AI designs experiments, robots execute them... |
PG&E | East Bay | Electric and gas utility, grid and wildfire hardening |
 | Peninsula | Pilgrim is pioneering battlefield-ready biotechnology to revolutionize military medicine. |
 | San Francisco | Earth-observation satellite constellations and data |
 | East Bay | Autonomous wing-in-ground-effect sea gliders for cargo |
 | San Francisco | Decision-ready AI for intelligence and counter-UAS operations |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Proception AI is revolutionizing humanoid robotics by developing ProHand, an advanced robotic hand that mirrors human dexterity and adaptability. |
 | East Bay | Autonomous electric aircraft; Dropship hybrid cargo UAV for military logistics |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Solid-state lithium-metal batteries |
 | San Francisco | Radify Metals uses hydrogen cold-plasma to convert metal oxides into pure metals, with water vapor as the only byproduct. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Autonomous flight system for Cessna Caravan and larger aircraft |
 | San Francisco | Low-signature tactical mesh radios (WHISPER) and networking |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Guardian AI predictive intelligence for national security |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Ricursive Intelligence is a frontier AI lab building an AI-driven platform for semiconductor design. |
 | East Bay | Heat batteries for industrial heat and power |
| East Bay | Autonomous surface vessels for maritime ISR and ocean mapping |
 | San Francisco | Our home security platform reliably identifies, understands, and deters threats. |
 | San Francisco | Schemata is revolutionizing virtual training and simulation by leveraging advanced 3D reconstruction and artificial intelligence technologies. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Foundation-model autonomy for military unmanned vehicles |
 | San Francisco | Semgrep is a leading application security company based in San Francisco, specializing in code scanning solutions that help organizations find and... |
 | San Francisco | Low-cost autonomous kinetic counter-drone interceptors |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Long-endurance multirotor drones |
 | East Bay | Silicon-carbon anode battery materials |
| Peninsula | Autonomous small UAS and docks for defense, public safety and enterprise |
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory | Peninsula | Photon science (LCLS), battery and materials research, astrophysics instruments |
 | San Francisco | Ocean sensor network (Spotter buoys) and marine weather data |
 | East Bay | Autonomous robotic micro-factories that print and assemble large metal structures |
 | San Francisco | Sorcerer is revolutionizing weather forecasting by deploying advanced weather balloons capable of collecting 1,000 times more data per dollar than... |
SRI International | Peninsula | Contract R&D for DARPA, DoD, NASA and energy |
 | San Francisco | Satellite-independent navigation modules for autonomous aircraft |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Sunday Robotics is building a wheeled home robot that autonomously handles household chores. |
 | San Francisco | Counter-drone sensor fusion and operator decision support |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Sygaldry builds quantum-accelerated AI servers to exponentially speed up AI training and inference, cutting compute costs and improving energy... |
 | San Francisco | The Bot Company is building a general-purpose home robot that handles routine household tasks autonomously. |
 | San Francisco | Visual positioning for GPS-denied drones |
 | San Francisco | Thinking Machines Lab is an artificial intelligence research and product company focused on making advanced AI systems more accessible, customizable... |
 | San Francisco | Trilobio is revolutionizing biological research through its fully integrated lab automation platform, designed to enhance precision and efficiency in... |
 | San Francisco | Truffle Security is a cybersecurity company specializing in secrets detection and management, with a focus on protecting organizations from the risks... |
 | San Francisco | Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering is pioneering ocean restoration through fully autonomous, low-cost maritime robots, focusing initially on seagrass... |
 | San Francisco | unspun is a California-based fashion technology company that is bringing apparel manufacturing back to the US. |
 | San Francisco | Uptool is an AI-powered quoting platform for machine shops that automates the full RFQ-to-estimate workflow. |
 | San Francisco | Usul is an AI-powered platform revolutionizing defense contracting by enabling users to assess defense markets, identify key stakeholders, and... |
| Silicon Valley and the South Bay | AI for defense intelligence, targeting and planning |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Metal laser powder-bed fusion printers and contract part production |
 | Peninsula | Modern, cloud-managed security cameras, access control, and smart building solutions in a single, fully integrated security system. |
 | San Francisco | Radar seekers for autonomous unmanned systems |
 | San Francisco | Automated software security and vulnerability detection. |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Vinci uses GPU-accelerated AI to run full-resolution engineering simulations faster than conventional solvers, eliminating meshing and manual setup. |
 | San Francisco | Voxel Energy builds off-grid data centers that generate and store their own power using on-site solar and repurposed EV batteries, cutting deployment... |
 | East Bay | Off-grid power from recycled metal fuels |
 | Peninsula | Joint sustainment and logistics decision software |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Long-duration weather balloon constellation and AI forecasting |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Autonomous four-seat eVTOL air taxi |
 | Silicon Valley and the South Bay | Closed-loop geothermal power |
 | East Bay | YPlasma builds 200µm DBD plasma actuators for solid-state electronics cooling and airflow control. |
| Peninsula | Autonomous delivery drones and logistics network |
This guide covers every company in DefDex whose headquarters city is in the Bay Area: startups, suppliers, research laboratories, a government innovation unit, a utility and a prime, 280 in all. It therefore includes AI, robotics, semiconductor and biotechnology companies as well as defense, space and energy, and companies headquartered elsewhere with a Bay Area site, such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and NASA Ames, are not counted. Private funding counts equity rounds for companies with disclosed amounts and excludes secondary share sales, federal awards count only startups. OpenAI, Anthropic and Scale AI are excluded from every figure and from the company list as general-purpose AI labs rather than defense, space or energy companies. The five areas are groupings by city: the Peninsula covers South San Francisco through Menlo Park, and Silicon Valley and the South Bay run from Palo Alto and Mountain View south to Morgan Hill and Santa Cruz. Open roles count only those located in the region.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are defense tech companies in the Bay Area?
San Francisco has the most, with 117 of the 280 companies in this guide, including Astranis, Capella Space, Planet Labs and a group of counter-drone startups. Silicon Valley and the South Bay have 84, including Lanteris Space Systems, Archer Aviation, Oklo and the Defense Innovation Unit. The East Bay has 43, including Lawrence Livermore, Lawrence Berkeley and Kairos Power, and the Peninsula has 34, including Zipline and Skydio.
How much venture funding goes to Bay Area defense, space and energy startups?
Companies in this guide disclosed $8.47 billion of equity across 97 rounds in 2025 and $19.11 billion across 118 rounds in 2026 through October 13, compared with $4.60 billion in 2024. The largest rounds since 2025 include Cognition's $2 billion Series E+, Fireworks AI's $1.5 billion Series D, Cerebras's $1.1 billion Series E+, Archer Aviation's $850 million growth round and Zipline's $800 million Series E+. Secondary share sales are excluded, as are OpenAI, Anthropic and Scale AI.
Which government agencies buy from Bay Area defense and energy startups?
The Department of Energy is the largest buyer by obligated dollars in DefDex's federal prime award records for Bay Area startups, followed by the Air Force, the Department of State, NASA and the Department of War. Together the region's startups hold 644 prime awards with $1.00 billion obligated. Most of the State Department total is Zipline's $150 million award. These figures exclude subcontracts and classified work.
Which Bay Area defense, space and energy companies are hiring?
On October 13, 2026, Zipline listed the most open roles located in the region on its public job board, followed by Applied Intuition, Astranis, Archer Aviation, Bloom Energy and Skydio. Across 135 companies with public boards, 3,188 open roles were located in the region. Companies without a public job board are not counted.
Which nuclear and fusion startups are in the Bay Area?
Kairos Power in Alameda is developing fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors, Oklo in Santa Clara is developing Aurora fast-reactor powerhouses, Deep Fission in Berkeley is developing borehole small modular reactors, and Hadron Energy in San Francisco is developing a 10 MW micro modular reactor. Fusion developers include Pacific Fusion in Fremont, Inertia in Livermore, and Marathon Fusion and Maritime Fusion in San Francisco.