Ares Industries, the first defense startup to receive support from Y Combinator, launched earlier this week.
In a post on the YC website, the startup outlines its vision of building a low-cost cruise missile that is compatible with existing launch platforms, saying it will “deliver the capabilities the Department of Defense wants in a form factor that is 10x smaller and 10x cheaper.”
Ares Industries founders say they have tested a prototype in the Mojave Desert and plan to deliver a working missile system to their first customer in mid-2025.
Jared Friedman, a partner at YC, told the FT that the incubator began encouraging support for defense technology startups earlier this year.
YC CEO Gary Tan was an early employee of data analytics company Palantir, which has found enormous success through its sometimes controversial work for the U.S. military and other governments and agencies. CEO Alex Karp recently defended the company’s “consistently pro-Western perspective” in an interview with The New York Times.
