Lockheed Martin Ventures, the strategic investing unit of the Bethesda, Md.-based aerospace giant, has joined a $12.7 million seed round for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Vayu Robotics. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from ReMY Investors and others.
Vayu is developing advanced robotics in two key areas — mobility and sensing. Both have varied applications, such as in driver-assisted and autonomous cars, and in warehouses, besides defense.
“Vayu is leveraging modern technology in creative ways that fits with Lockheed Martin’s 21st century security vision,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin Ventures. “Vayu Robotics has a viable avenue to provide our customers with cutting-edge and cost-effective robotic systems that can introduce a new wave of intelligent, autonomous solutions across multiple domains.”
Strategic Goals
Lockheed Martin Ventures was launched in 2007 with $100 million to back startups developing strategic “21st century technologies.” It has since grown in size to $400 million, and also raised the number of investment managers to cope with increased deal flow.
“The No. 1 goal is to access this tech, build up the defense industrial base and then use these folks as suppliers to programs that we work on,” Moran, a Silicon Valley veteran who joined Lockheed in 2016, told Business Journal in an interview in June.
In 2022, Lockheed made 17 investments and today, has over 60 portfolio companies. It typically invests between $2 million and $5 million in individual startups. Its recent investments include South 8 Technologies, Calypso AI and Agile Space Industries.
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Co-founders with Ph.Ds
Vayu was co-founded by Anand Gopalan, former CEO of Velodyne Lidar; Mahesh Krishnamurthi, formerly of Lyft and Apple; and Nitish Srivastava, formerly of Apple. All three have Ph.Ds in areas of technologies that can be leveraged to advance robotics.
“Vayu is poised to disrupt the market by creating the lowest cost ownership for robots with the best operational economics,” said Gopalan, who earned MS and Ph.D. degrees from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Kanu Gulati, partner at Khosla Ventures, said Vayu is among “the first to leverage advanced sensing technology for machines to be able to navigate the world in a way they could not previously, taking robotics to a new place.”
