Anduril Approves $1.3 Billion Secondary Share Sale at $90 Billion Valuation

When OpenAI and Anthropic opened billion-dollar tender offers this year, the valuations reflected a software industry racing to build artificial general intelligence. Anduril Industries is now executing the exact same financial maneuver—a $1.3 billion secondary share sale at a $90 billion valuation—but it is doing so by selling autonomous fighter jets and surveillance towers to the Pentagon.[2]

The defense technology startup opened the tender offer on October 13, allowing current and former employees to sell their existing equity at $94.80 per share. The window is scheduled to close on November 9. Because this is a secondary sale, the transaction provides liquidity to workers rather than injecting new capital into the company's balance sheet.[2]

For the first time, Anduril has expanded eligibility to staff in 16 countries, moving beyond its previous limits of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This geographic expansion underscores how far the company's workforce has spread beyond its original Southern California base. The total purchase pool is capped at $1.3 billion.[2]

A 48 Percent Jump in Five Months

The $90 billion figure represents a sharp repricing of the company's private-market worth. In May 2026, Anduril raised $5 billion in primary capital at a $61 billion valuation, which itself was double the $30.5 billion mark set in June 2025.[2]

That rapid escalation mirrors the multiples typically awarded to consumer software platforms, not defense contractors. Anduril reported $2.2 billion in revenue for 2025, roughly twice what it brought in the year before. The current secondary market is therefore pricing the firm at roughly 41 times its trailing sales.[2]

The $90 billion valuation places Anduril's private-market value in the same tier as the public-market capitalizations of legacy defense primes. For comparison, established aerospace and defense giants like Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics operate with market capitalizations in the $80 billion to $90 billion range, despite generating tens of billions in annual revenue.[1]

Shipped Hardware Versus Software Hype

The company's core pitch relies on treating military hardware as a software problem. While legacy defense primes spend decades developing hardware-centric platforms, Anduril focuses on its autonomy software. That system networks together its uncrewed combat aircraft, surveillance systems, and augmented-reality headgear for military personnel.[2]

Despite the software-first marketing language, Anduril's valuation ultimately rests on its ability to deliver physical weapons systems. The company recently delivered its first Fury autonomous wingman drones to the U.S. Air Force. These uncrewed aircraft are specifically designed to fly alongside piloted fighter jets in combat scenarios.

The company faces direct competition from established defense contractors in the autonomous aircraft space. General Atomics, a legacy supplier to the Pentagon, is currently supplying its own wingman drone, the Vengeance. That platform will compete directly with Anduril's Fury for future Air Force procurement contracts.

Bypassing the Legacy Primes

The U.S. Department of Defense remains the company's largest customer, and the Pentagon is increasingly shifting procurement toward venture-backed firms that can iterate quickly. Co-founder Palmer Luckey, who previously sold the virtual reality headset company Oculus to Facebook, established Anduril in 2017 to capitalize on this exact shift.[2]

The May 2026 funding round that pushed Anduril to its previous $61 billion valuation was led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. That capital injection was earmarked for expanding manufacturing capacity. The company is currently preparing for the early production of its uncrewed fighter jets.[2]

The tender offer arrives as private capital markets pour unprecedented sums into defense technology globally. According to Dealroom data, defense startups in Europe alone are heading for a record $10.5 billion in funding this year. Nearly half of that capital is originating from American investors.

European competitors are also seeing their valuations rise, though they remain well below Anduril's benchmark. Munich-based artificial intelligence defense company Helsing reached an $18 billion valuation in the spring. Meanwhile, the Portuguese-British drone manufacturer Tekever is now valued at €5.5 billion following its latest funding round.

Delaying the Public Markets

By executing a $1.3 billion secondary sale, Anduril is utilizing a strategy that has become standard among the most highly valued artificial intelligence startups. The practice allows private companies to delay public listings while still offering employees a chance to cash out. This helps retain talent in a highly competitive engineering market.[2]

The $94.80 share price is fixed for the duration of the window, offering employees a guaranteed exit price regardless of broader market volatility. Because the transaction is capped at $1.3 billion, the company will likely have to prorate the share purchases if the total volume of stock tendered exceeds the maximum allocation.[2]

The $90 billion valuation remains a private-market benchmark, not a public trading price, and it is untested against the scrutiny of an initial public offering. As no executives are quoted in the cited reporting, the company's internal strategy for the timing of the sale remains private.[2]