Anduril founder Palmer Luckey makes secret Israel visit, meets Netanyahu
Meetings with the prime minister and defense officials come as the company pursues a $60bn valuation.
Palmer Luckey, founder of U.S. defense-technology company Anduril Industries, made a quiet two-day visit to Israel this week, meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, senior defense officials, and several local defense-technology companies and startups.
The visit was not publicly disclosed at the time. However, people familiar with the meetings said Luckey may be exploring business partnerships with Israeli firms while also advancing efforts to market Anduril’s products to Israel’s defense establishment.
The trip comes at a pivotal moment for Anduril. According to Bloomberg, the company is in talks to raise as much as $8 billion in a new funding round at a valuation of at least $60 billion, roughly double its $30.5 billion valuation in June last year. The fresh capital would give Anduril greater flexibility to finance its first major weapons-manufacturing facility and to develop an autonomous fighter jet.
Founded in 2017 after Luckey’s departure from Facebook, Anduril develops autonomous drones, surveillance systems, and AI-enabled defense platforms. The company has won multiple billion-dollar contracts with the U.S. military and has gained prominence amid growing demand for low-cost, autonomous military systems.
Its rise has coincided with a broader shift in Silicon Valley, where venture capital has increasingly flowed into defense technology as the war in Ukraine and tensions with China reshape Pentagon priorities.
Luckey’s visit to Israel underscores that convergence. Israel has become a focal point for defense innovation, with startups and military technology units producing systems that are rapidly deployed and tested in real-world conditions.
Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner of Lux Capital, publicly acknowledged organizing the trip, posting on social media: “True. I take responsibility. And proudly.” Lux was an early backer of Anduril when it was founded.
In a May interview with Calcalist, Wolfe described Israel as having become “the envy of the world” in defense technology, pointing to the global attention on Israeli air-defense systems. U.S. venture capital firms, he said at the time, are now competing to invest in Israeli defense startups.
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The meetings this week took place against a backdrop of intensifying U.S.-Israel defense-tech ties. While neither Anduril nor Israeli officials provided details of specific discussions, industry observers said potential collaboration could range from joint development agreements with startups to procurement discussions with the Israeli defense establishment.
Luckey, 33, first gained prominence as the creator of Oculus VR, which he sold to Facebook for $2 billion at age 22. After leaving Facebook in 2017, he pivoted to defense technology, founding Anduril with backing from venture investors including Lux Capital.
