Daniel Ateya, head of RTX Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2026 Powerlist.
Daniel Ateya operates at the intersection of two systems that rarely move at the same speed: Silicon Valley and national security.
As head of RTX Ventures, the corporate VC unit of US defence prime RTX, since its founding in 2022, Ateya has spent the past year refining a model that goes beyond traditional corporate venturing with deals in 2026 till date including Hermeus, Code Metal, Impulse Space, Darkhive, Observable Space, VATN and Efficient Computer.
Where earlier iterations of defence CVC often struggled to translate investments into operational impact, Ateya’s approach is defined by integration, such as portfolio companies Ursa Major and Forterra successfully collaborating with RTX subsidiary Raytheon on a driverless, autonomous mobile missile launcher called DeepStrike for the US Army in March 2025. His mandate is not just to invest; it is to make venture-backed innovation usable inside one of the world’s largest aerospace and defence companies.
Over the past year, that has meant sharpening the fund’s focus on dual-use technologies: artificial intelligence, autonomy, advanced materials and space systems. These are not abstract themes. They reflect the structural pressures reshaping defence primes, including fragile supply chains, rapidly evolving threat environments, and the need to ingest innovation at commercial speed.
Ateya’s portfolio construction increasingly mirrors those realities, favouring startups that can transition from prototype to deployment within RTX’s programmes.
What distinguishes Ateya in the broader CVC landscape is his ability to operate within constraints that most venture investors never face. Export controls, classification regimes, and long procurement cycles create friction that can suffocate innovation. Yet these same constraints also create opportunity: a well-run corporate venture unit can act as a translator between startups and a highly regulated customer base. It is something he has seen first-hand after nearly a decade working for 3M Ventures following a PhD in mechanical engineering.
RTX Ventures’ importance lies not just in capital deployed, but in the pathways it creates. In a world where defence innovation is no longer confined to government labs, that role is becoming indispensable.
The GCV Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
Here’s a snapshot of their recent deals:
