Lockheed Martin Ventures will now have double the amount of capital under management to invest in sectors such as autonomy and advanced manufacturing.
Aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin yesterday doubled the amount of funding its corporate venturing arm Lockheed Martin Ventures has under management to $200m.
The additional $100m follows recent tax form legislation in the US and will primarily go to early-stage startups in the areas of sensor technologies, autonomy, artificial intelligence and cybertechnology.
Concurrently, Lockheed Martin Ventures revealed it has invested an undisclosed sum in NTopology, a US-based developer of computer-aided design software that previously closed a $7.6m series A round in November 2017.
The series A round was co-led by Data Collective and Root Ventures, with participation from CrunchFund, Haystack, Pathbreaker and 1517.
The increased funding for the corporate venturing division forms part of a $460m commitment that Lockheed Martin is making across its business operations.
The company will also put $200m towards R&D this year; $100m towards staff training over the next five years; $50m towards science, technology, engineering and maths education and a related scholarship fund; and $10m towards the launch of the Lockheed Martin Innovation Prize competition.
Chris Moran, vice-president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, said: “Our focus is on finding and investing in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that will grow our business and disrupt our industry.
“We are developing long-term strategic partnerships with companies and helping them navigate through the early stages of product development while leveraging our decades of experience working with government customers.”
