Silent Ventures

Technology Focus Areas (Top 4): Space & Satellite; Autonomy; Weapons; Advanced Manufacturing

Series: Seed, Series A

Locations: Dallas, TX

Silent Ventures: Early-Stage Defense Tech VC History & Portfolio Impact

Silent Ventures is a Dallas-based venture capital firm that launched in 2022 with a laser focus on early-stage aerospace, defense, national security, and deep technology startups. Founded by serial entrepreneur Jackson Moses, the firm has quickly established itself as a key player in the defense tech ecosystem, backing dozens of cutting-edge companies building everything from autonomous drones to hypersonic missiles.

The Fund Behind the Investment Strategy

Silent Ventures raised its first fund targeting up to $50 million in committed capital in late 2022, and by mid-2025 launched its second fund to continue backing new startups. While the firm keeps its exact assets under management private, the initial fund size gives you a sense of their capacity to write meaningful checks to early-stage companies.

The firm focuses primarily on pre-seed and seed-stage deals, occasionally participating in Series A rounds. They typically write checks in the high six-figure to low seven-figure range for initial investments, often leading these early rounds. Their strategy centers on providing "stealth capital for elite operators" building foundational defense technologies.

What sets Silent apart is their willingness to co-invest alongside much larger VCs while bringing specialized defense expertise to the table. For example, they led a $12.5M seed round in drone-maker Firestorm alongside Lockheed Martin's venture arm, demonstrating their ability to bridge Silicon Valley capital with defense industry relationships.

The Man Behind the Fund

Jackson Moses brings a unique combination of entrepreneurial success and deep tech expertise to Silent Ventures. As a proven serial entrepreneur, he previously founded two companies with successful exits. His fintech startup MainStreet scaled to over $30M in annual revenue serving 2000+ startup customers before being acquired by Employer.com. Before that, his machine-learning company Spectrum AI was acquired by ActiveFence after reaching a $137M valuation.

Across these ventures, Moses raised over $120 million in venture funding and gained invaluable go-to-market experience. This background gives him credibility with founders who are navigating similar challenges in building and scaling startups.

What makes Moses particularly effective in defense tech is his transition from successful founder to specialist investor. He worked in market research at Cisco and sales at LinkedIn earlier in his career, but found his passion in frontier technologies with national security applications. He actively advises multiple defense startups, including serving as a Senior Advisor to hypersonics company Castelion and space debris startup Privateer.

Moses also founded Silent Capital, an affiliated syndicate that co-invests in later-stage defense and deep tech deals alongside Silent Ventures' fund. This structure allows him to participate in growth rounds while maintaining focus on early-stage investments through the main fund.

The recognition has followed the results. In 2025, Business Insider named Moses among the "Seed 100: Best Early-Stage Investors" and called him a "prolific defense tech investor." Under his leadership, Silent Ventures has become one of the few boutique firms with double-digit investments in defense tech since 2021.

Moses operates from Dallas with a lean team structure - he's the sole general partner, supported by a network of venture partners and advisors. His personal network and industry expertise are central to the firm's strategy, having sourced deals for major funds like a16z, Founders Fund, and NEA.

Building Thought Leadership in Defense Tech

Despite its name suggesting stealth, Silent Ventures maintains an active public presence to champion defense tech innovation. Moses frequently shares insights through industry media, keynoting aerospace and defense tech events. He appeared on panels like "How to Build a Successful Defense Tech Company" hosted by 47G in 2024, and regularly joins podcasts to discuss emerging defense tech trends.

His media appearances serve a strategic purpose beyond marketing - they help dispel the notion that "defense tech isn't investable." As Moses famously rebutted on LinkedIn about contrarian defense bets: "All exceptional ideas are contrarian until they're not... Hold my beer."

Silent Ventures runs a Substack newsletter called "Silent Signals" where they share research and portfolio updates, publishing internal market insights that were previously limited to fund LPs. This thought leadership often centers on the need to re-energize U.S. defense innovation and reindustrialize America's defense base in the face of global threats.

Moses maintains an active presence on social media, often praising portfolio milestones and calling out contrarian bets that paid off. The Dallas startup community has taken particular notice - Dallas Innovates profiled him in 2025 for his role in major local deals like UNION's $50M seed round.

Portfolio: From Stealth Startups to Defense Unicorns

Silent Ventures has assembled an impressive portfolio spanning the full spectrum of defense and deep tech innovation. The firm's current active portfolio focuses on pre-seed and seed stage investments they backed early:

Autonomous Systems & Drones:

• Firestorm Labs - Builds autonomous drones and expeditionary 3D-printing systems for mobile additive manufacturing

• Saronic - Autonomous naval drone boats and maritime defense systems, pioneering unmanned surface vessels for the U.S. Navy

• Swarmbotics AI - Coordinated autonomous ground robots using AI for battlefield applications

• Fulcrum Autonomy - AI and autonomous control systems for defense (operating in stealth)

Space Infrastructure:

• Impulse Space - In-space transportation vehicles ("space tugs") led by former SpaceX engineers

• Solestial - Space-based solar power and satellite solar panels for spacecraft

Manufacturing & Industrial:

• Hadrian - Automated precision manufacturing, building CNC factories serving space and defense (often called "SpaceX for factories")

• Union Technologies - "Factories-as-a-Stockpile" concept, building autonomous micro-factories to rapidly produce defense materiel

• Dirac - Aerospace manufacturing software platform bridging engineering to factory floor

Advanced Weapons & Sensors:

• Aeon - AI-powered munitions and smart projectile systems working with the U.S. Army

• CHAOS Industries - Advanced sensor and radar systems for threat detection

• Castelion - Hypersonic weapons and kinetic strike systems (Moses serves as advisor)

AI & Computing:

• Armada AI - Edge computing platform for distributed data centers and AI at the tactical edge

• Gallatin AI - AI-driven military logistics and supply chain platform

The firm also includes several companies operating in stealth mode, including Furientis, Sandtable (likely simulation software), and Haxion AI.

Alumni Success Stories

Some of Silent's most impressive wins come from their "alumni" - earlier investments that have since matured into major success stories:

Anduril Industries represents perhaps Moses's most prescient early bet. He invested personally in Anduril in 2021, well before launching Silent Ventures. As Anduril's valuation soared into the billions, Moses found himself fielding constant inquiries from family offices desperate to buy secondary shares. "Every family office and institution wants to know, how can I buy this?" he told Business Insider.

Voyager Technologies went public in 2025 with its stock surging 125% on debut. The space infrastructure company raised $382M in its upsized IPO offering, reaching approximately $3.8 billion in market cap. Silent Ventures was an early investor in Voyager well before its NYSE listing.

Other notable alumni include Axiom Space (building commercial space stations), Privateer Space (space debris tracking co-founded by Steve Wozniak), and Radian Aerospace (developing single-stage-to-orbit spaceplanes).

Portfolio Impact and Value Creation

Silent Ventures' portfolio companies have demonstrated remarkable success, with many achieving multi-billion dollar valuations, major defense contracts, and significant funding milestones. What's particularly impressive is how Silent adds value beyond just writing checks.

Saronic Technologies exemplifies this approach. Silent backed the company from seed stage and participated in multiple follow-on rounds. In under three years, Saronic grew from startup to a $4 billion valuation as of mid-2025, becoming one of the fastest-growing defense contractors. Silent's early conviction and continued support helped Saronic build credibility with both investors and government customers.

CHAOS Industries showcases Silent's network effects. After leading CHAOS's seed investment, Moses sourced NEA as the lead investor for the company's $275M Series C round, helping arrange a deal that valued CHAOS at $2 billion. This behind-the-scenes facilitation demonstrates how Silent leverages relationships to bring heavyweight investors to its portfolio companies.

UNION Technologies emerged from stealth in 2025 with an oversubscribed $50M seed round to build autonomous munitions micro-factories. Silent Ventures was the lead seed investor and took a Board Observer seat, guiding the company through its launch. The ambitious "reindustrialize America's defense manufacturing base" mission garnered significant media attention, with Silent's involvement lending credibility to the large initial raise.

Firestorm Labs shows Silent's hands-on approach. As lead investor in Firestorm's pre-seed and seed rounds (taking a board seat), Silent helped the company secure a $100M U.S. Air Force contract for drone swarms and support services. They also facilitated partnerships like Firestorm's deal with HP for industrial 3D printer distribution.

Impulse Space demonstrates Silent's ability to identify technical winners. Led by SpaceX veteran Tom Mueller, Impulse raised a $300M Series C in 2023 (bringing total funding to $525M) while signing 30+ launch contracts worth approximately $200M. Silent's early investment alongside Founders Fund and Lux helped validate the space mobility opportunity.

The pattern across these successes is consistent: Silent often leads or co-leads early rounds, takes board positions when appropriate, and then uses its network to facilitate follow-on funding from top-tier VCs. This syndicate approach has enabled portfolio companies to access resources from firms like a16z, Founders Fund, Lightspeed, and NEA.

The Network Effect

Silent Ventures' impact extends beyond direct investments through what Moses calls bridging "Silicon Valley and the defense establishment." The firm frequently co-invests with major VCs, providing defense tech validation that helps startups access follow-on capital and credibility.

Many Silent-backed companies see participation from top-tier funds in later rounds. This isn't accidental - Silent's presence in a deal often signals to larger coastal VCs that a startup has specialist validation in defense tech. The firm even runs Silent Capital as a syndicate vehicle, allowing outside investors to participate in deals alongside the main fund.

For startups navigating the complex defense market, Silent provides guidance on DoD contracting, securing non-dilutive funding through programs like STRATFI/TACFI, and connecting with government customers. This specialized knowledge can make the difference between success and failure in a sector where relationships and process expertise matter enormously.

Looking Forward

As of 2025, Silent Ventures is considered among the leading specialist funds in defense tech, frequently mentioned alongside much larger firms like 8VC and Andreessen Horowitz in this sector. Their "wide net" approach to portfolio construction is evident - no company is too early or idea too ambitious if it could redefine aerospace or security.

With Fund II now in market, Silent continues backing what Moses calls "exceptional founders building unrivaled hard-tech startups." The firm's track record of helping companies navigate from concept to major defense contracts while achieving venture-scale returns has proven that defense tech can deliver both national impact and outsized commercial success.

The renaissance in defense innovation that Silent has helped catalyze reflects a broader shift in how the venture community views national security investments. By backing contrarian founders with the right support systems, Silent Ventures has demonstrated that with proper guidance and capital, defense startups can achieve the kind of outcomes that make both patriots and profit-seekers happy.