Anduril employee tender offer would value the defense tech startup at $90 billion
Anduril, the defense technology startup founded in 2017, is giving employees the chance to cash out through a tender offer that values the company at roughly $90 billion, CNBC confirmed. Bloomberg first reported the transaction, and Anduril confirmed its details. Staff in 16 countries are eligible to sell shares at $94.80 apiece, with the offer opening on October 13 and closing on November 9. The tender is capped at $1.3 billion, meaning total employee sales through the program cannot exceed that amount.
The proposed valuation marks a dramatic escalation for the company. In May, Anduril closed a $5 billion funding round that doubled its valuation to $61 billion — a figure the new tender offer would put nearly 50 percent higher within just five months. The speed of that rise reflects Anduril's standing as a major beneficiary of the expanding U.S. defense technology sector and of the Trump administration's push to reindustrialize the American military.
Anduril has built its reputation on autonomous drones, augmented reality headsets, and artificial intelligence software developed for the U.S. government and allied nations. The company continues to win substantial government work: this month it signed a U.S. Navy shipyard contract worth up to $2.9 billion. Just before that deal, co-founder Palmer Luckey, who previously created the Oculus virtual reality headset, was named co-director of Project Meridian, a Pentagon-linked initiative aimed at developing and scaling military capabilities that Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, also joined.
Anduril has also made news abroad. Last month, Iran claimed it had captured one of the company's underwater vehicles, underscoring how prominently its hardware now figures in global military activity.
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