Unmanned Military Aircraft

How to Invest in Anduril Stock in 2024

Published Jan 24, 2024
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Reviewed by Bryan Junus, CFA
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The Department of Defense has deep pockets. 

In fact, it's allocated billions of dollars each year by the U.S. government. A good portion of this is sent to defense contractors, fueling multi-billion dollar corporations like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.

While there are many smaller players in the industry, no company has had the technology to compete with the legacy contractors.

Until Anduril Industries.

Anduril specializes in advanced autonomous systems and aims to transform U.S. military capabilities with this technology.

Here's more about the company and how to invest before its IPO.

What is Anduril Industries?

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company that specializes in autonomous vehicles, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Autonomy is at the heart of what the company does, as Anduril's systems are all backed by an AI-powered operating system called Lattice OS, which provides autonomy for defense missions. 

The company believes the future of military tech relies more on advances in computer and software engineering, and less on hardware. 

In simple terms, Anduril is where Silicon Valley meets the Pentagon. 

Anduril has contracts with the governments of the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and more. Below are a few examples of how they're using its technology:

  • Surveillance towers: In March 2018, Anduril launched a test program with four of its Sentry Towers to detect human trafficking and drug smuggling at the Mexican border. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 200 additional towers were purchased following the pilot.
  • Warfare software: In 2020, Anduril received a contract from the Air Force to work on the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), which allows forces to operate together via a secure network, allowing quick, real-time decision making.
  • Counter-drone tech: In 2022, Anduril won an almost $1 billion, decade-long contract with Special Operations Command to provide counter-drone capabilities through its Lattice AI platform.
  • Unmanned systems: In 2023, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded Anduril a $21.4 million (initial), 31-month contract to explore the use of unmanned aerial systems in the Royal Air Force.

Who founded Anduril?

Anduril was founded by Palmer Luckey, who also founded Oculus, a virtual reality headset company acquired by Meta (META) for $2 billion.

In June 2017, Luckey partnered with former Palantir (PLTR) executives Matt Grimm, Trae Stephens, and Brian Schimpf, along with Oculus' former hardware lead, Joe Chen, to form Anduril.

Together, the team believes its unique set of experiences in virtual reality, hardware, technology, and defense contracting will help it disrupt the defense industry.

And accredited investors can invest right now.

How to invest in Anduril in 2024

Anduril is a private company, meaning there is no stock symbol and no way for you to buy it in your traditional brokerage account.

This will continue to be the case until it becomes publicly traded, either through an IPO or a direct listing.

While a future IPO is the goal, Luckey indicated in an interview in September 2023 that it will likely be at least three years before they take the company public.

Regardless, there is a way for accredited investors to invest in certain privately held companies now, including Anduril.

What is an accredited investor?

The SEC recently made changes to regulations that allow certain people to invest in riskier asset classes, including private companies.

Accreditation requirements

To qualify as an accredited investor, you must meet one of the following criteria:

  • Have an annual income of $200,000 individually or $300,000 jointly
  • Have a net worth that exceeds $1,000,000, excluding your primary residence
  • Be a qualifying financial professional

If you meet at least one of these requirements, you can invest in Anduril stock today.

How to invest in Anduril stock as an accredited investor

Hiive is a marketplace which gives accredited investors access to high-growth, VC-backed startups.

There are hundreds of private companies available for investment on Hiive, including Anduril:

Buy Anduril Stock

There are 2 listings of Anduril stock available on Hiive (as of the time of this writing). The sellers may be current or former employees, venture capitalists, or angel investors.

On Hiive, buyers can either accept the asking prices and volume offered or place bids and negotiate directly with the sellers. Plus, there are no fees for buyers.

Click the button below to view current offerings for Anduril:

Other opportunities for retail investors

The only way to invest directly in Anduril Industries is to be an accredited investor.

If you don't qualify as an accredited investor, here are a few other investment ideas to consider.

1. Wait for its IPO

The simplest way for retail investors to invest directly in Anduril is to simply wait for its IPO. Unfortunately, this might take some time.

As referenced above, Luckey gave an interview in September 2023 in which he indicated it was unlikely the company would have its IPO before late 2026. He's waiting until 1) the IPO market warms up again and 2) his company is in shape for Wall Street.

When Anduril does have its initial public offering, you'll need a brokerage account to buy shares. If you need a brokerage account, we recommend Public.

On the platform, you can invest in stocks, ETFs, Treasuries, corporate bonds, cryptocurrencies, and collectibles, all from one account.

2. Invest in other defense contractors

Though Anduril has a unique team of founders with expertise in VR, tech, and defense contracts, it's not the only company making autonomous vehicles and tech.

Here are a few other investment opportunities you may be interested in:

  • Boeing (BA) produces unmanned vehicles that operate on land, sea, air, and in space. The company is worth $131.7 billion and generated $75.8 billion in revenue in the last 12 months.
  • Lockheed Martin (LMT) also produces autonomous products like UAVs and software for piloting unmanned aircraft. Lockheed Martin brought in $67.7 billion in revenue in the last year and is valued at nearly $115 billion.
  • Northrop Grumman (NOC) has its own line of autonomous systems, which includes helicopters, aircraft, and submarines. The company is valued at $72.5 billion and earned $38.7 billion in revenue in the last 12 months.
  • Raytheon (RTX) also has a number of autonomous defense solutions. The company has TTM sales of $67 billion and a market capitalization of $124.1 billion.

While it may not be as exciting as investing in a startup, each of these companies has a long history of developing and selling defense solutions to the U.S. government.

They also have very deep pockets, which is a massive advantage when developing new technologies.

More about Anduril

Anduril Industries revenue

Anduril's revenue has grown at an impressive clip as it continues to land more and more contracts.

Here's a quick look at its revenue over the last few years, according to Sacra:

Anduril Revenue

Note: the 2023 figure is an estimate.

While the bulk of its revenue has come from the U.S. government, Anduril also has contracts with Australia and the U.K., as noted above.

Anduril's products

The company's flagship product is Lattice, which combines data from drones, cameras, and satellites to create a real-time situational awareness platform for military personnel. They can then use this information to make crucial decisions.

In addition to the command and control software, Anduril produces autonomous vehicles and systems to complete the network.

A few of its other products are:

  • Anvil, an unmanned aerial vehicle that rams other drones using computer vision.
  • Ghost 4, an autonomous tactical drone that is incredibly quiet and hard to track.
  • ALTIUS, a series of tube-launched, unmanned aerial vehicles designed to accept modular payloads that can be operated in a mesh network.
  • Dust, a ground-based sensor intended to detect people and objects with a limited line of sight.
  • Dive-LD, an autonomous underwater vehicle used for surveillance and inspection.
  • Fury, a long-range, subsonic military drone for surveillance and combat operations.
  • Roadrunner, a turbojet-powered aircraft used for surveillance and to intercept cruise missiles and manned aircraft.
  • Sentry Tower, a solar-powered surveillance tower operating autonomously with radar and thermal imaging.
  • Rocket motors, which are used for defense and space launch systems.

What does the name “Anduril” mean?

Anduril is a reference to The Lord of the Rings book series written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Anduril is the sword of Aragon, one of the primary protagonists.

The name means “the flame of the West.”

Who owns Anduril?

Anduril was founded by Palmer Luckey, Matt Grimm, Trae Stephens, Brian Schimpf, and Joe Chen. In addition to the co-founders, current and former employees also own some portion of the company via stock options.

Anduril also has 38 external investors who have invested $2.26 billion over 7 funding rounds. Notable investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

The exact ownership split is not publicly available.

Anduril Industries valuation chart

Here's a look at how Anduril's valuation has changed over time:

Anduril Valuation

Source: Crunchbase

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