Funds Amassed: $7.1 Million for Expanding Data Analysis Platform
Obviant, a data intelligence platform, has announced $7.1 million in seed funding to revolutionize the way the defense sector approaches acquisition, contracting, and budgeting. The funding round was led by Shield Capital, with participation from Motivate Venture Capital, A*, New Vista Capital, Aloft Venture Capital, and Underdog Labs.
The platform aims to provide a comprehensive and coherent view of defense procurement data, offering real-time, actionable insights for leaders across industry and government. Obviant's mission, as stated by Co-founder and CEO Brendan Karp, is to serve as a source of truth and underlying trends for defense acquisition.
Obviant's unique approach combines open-source intelligence (OSINT) and customers' data with AI-driven context and reasoning. The platform ingests and unifies data from thousands of sources, including program documents, defense budget justification books, and congressional reports. This data can be aggregated by mission or program, such as contested logistics or the Golden Dome, providing a detailed and nuanced understanding of defense spending.
The platform is already making a significant impact. It is helping defense tech firms align capabilities with sources of funding, supplying investors with diligence-ready analysis and market sizing, and aiding DoD offices in visualizing portfolios and streamlining technology transitions. Obviant is currently serving high-growth defense startups, primes, global investment firms, defense advisory firms, think tanks, and multiple government agencies.
Michael Brown, a Partner at Shield Capital and former Director of the DoD's Defense Innovation Unit, spoke highly of Obviant's solution, stating that it unlocks better understanding of spending on defense mission capabilities and new technologies. He believes that Obviant's platform will bring real-time transparency and context to the defense procurement ecosystem, moving at the speed of relevance in the defense sector.
The funding will be used to broaden Obviant's customer base, expand the team, and advance the AI capabilities of the platform. Obviant will also collaborate with industry leaders such as Anduril, Clearview AI, and various startups to advance its AI-based platform for the U.S. Department of Defense's procurement, contracts, and budget data.
With this funding, Obviant is poised to transform defense procurement, giving customers a decisive edge in understanding and pursuing opportunities. The platform aims to provide a source of truth and underlying trends for technology, policy, and investment in the defense sector, ultimately helping to make defense decision-making more efficient and effective.
