NOVUS
The first venture fund operating under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of War.
The government now identifies, funds, and commits to buy from the defense companies that will define the next decade. Novus is the first private capital they meet.
The Opportunity
For the first time, a venture fund has been built in close partnership with the U.S. Department of War to fund and advance the next generation of defense and dual-use companies. National defense spending is budgeted to approach one trillion dollars in 2026, with a proposed buildup toward 1.5 trillion in 2027, representing the largest military investment since the Korean War. That capability cannot be delivered by the incumbent primes alone. The monopoly and inertia of the primes is precisely what created the opening for companies like Palantir and Anduril, and the next set of those companies is being identified right now.
The Structural Gap
Each year the Department of War selects a small number of companies to solve problems it considers critical to the warfighter, and funds them through prototype. The capability gets proven. The demand signal is confirmed. A signed government commitment, however, is not the capital required to deliver on it. Founders still cross the valley of death on their own, raising private money to build a business capable of fulfilling a contract the government has already promised. That gap is where generational companies are made, and where, until now, private investors had no structured way in.
The Novus Edge
Novus Defense Fund is unique because it is the investment arm of a national defense innovation network, embedded at the tip of the spear across every branch of the U.S. military and intelligence community. The innovation network was conceived as a way to extend the mission of The Bridge, powered by DTI, in partnership with Space Force.
Through Novus's cooperative agreement with the Department of War, the fund is integrated with key DoW decision-makers and receives a first look at the companies the government has already chosen, validated, and committed to, at the moment they move from prototype toward contract. This inverts the central risk of early-stage investing, whether or not customer demand exists. For Novus's portfolio companies, the customer is the United States government and the future demand is already verified through the DoW.
The Proof
In just one and a half years, working with a single branch of the military (Space Force), the DTI Bridge program produced the following. Novus will serve all branches of the military.
Novus is built to capture this pipeline systematically, and to be there first.
The Comparables
The last generation of defense founders broke through without a partner like this. The companies they built show the scale of the outcome on offer.
Novus exists to reach the next ones earlier, with the government already alongside.
The Fund
Limited partner participation is by invitation and intentionally limited.