U.S. defence technology startup Anduril has raised $5 billion, lifting its valuation to $61 billion. On May 13 local time, CNBC reported that the funding round was led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

The investment doubled Anduril's valuation from $30.5 billion. With strong market expectations for a listing, its valuation has risen further ahead of an initial public offering.

Anduril plans to use the funds for manufacturing, research and infrastructure. Chief Executive Brian Schimpf said it will invest aggressively in those areas to expand production of defence systems for the United States as the country faces growing geopolitical risks.

Schimpf said defence was not a field that attracted much venture investment when Anduril was founded in 2017, but the situation has changed sharply over the past few years. Funding has been flowing into defence technology startups. Shield AI, autonomous vessel maker Saronic and several space companies have also recently sought to raise funds.

Anduril is also seeking to benefit from the U.S. military's reindustrialisation competition under President Donald Trump. It recently joined a group of companies developing space interceptors for Trump's $185 billion missile defence system, the "Golden Dome".

This year Anduril signed a 10-year contract with the U.S. Army with a total cap of $20 billion, and acquired a space missile and satellite tracking company. Anduril was founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey (팔머 럭키), the developer of the Oculus headset. Luckey said in an interview last year that he would take the company public.

Anduril is regarded as one of the Silicon Valley-backed companies challenging a defence contract market long dominated by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and RTX.