El Segundo defense tech accelerator raises $6M fund backed by a16z, Lux Capital, and Point72
Feb 10, 2025
Key Points
- Skipless Ventures raises $6 million for a second cohort of defense tech founders, backed by Kevin Hartz, Champion Hill Ventures, and Leo Polovets.
- The El Segundo accelerator's first cohort attracted a16z, Lux Capital, and Point72 to seed companies building military supply chain software, electronic warfare tools, and autonomous mining equipment.
- The fund reflects a narrowing thesis on critical infrastructure gaps rather than broader ideology, with defense contractors Varda and Hadrian planning to advise the incoming cohort.
Summary
El Segundo Defense Tech Accelerator Raises $6M Fund
Skipless Ventures, a defense technology accelerator based in El Segundo, has raised $6 million to back a second cohort of founders building for the American defense industrial base. The fund is backed by Kevin Hartz, Champion Hill Ventures, and Leo Polovets, according to Forbes reporting covered on the show.
The accelerator, founded by Jacob Diepenbrock when he was 20 years old, has already moved companies from its first cohort into capital raises. Investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Lux Capital, and Point72 Ventures have backed more than half a dozen founders from that initial group, pouring seed-stage capital into companies including Rune Technologies (military supply chain software), Vanguard Defense (electronic warfare data products), and Duran (autonomous drilling equipment for mining).
The $6 million fund is modest by venture standards but carries Y Combinator-style ambitions aligned with Trump administration priorities. The accelerator plans to host a week-long second cohort event in coming months, with leaders from defense contractors Varda and Hadrian expected to advise founders. Augustus Derico, founder of cloud-seeding startup Rainmaker and a "teal fellow," will host the cohort at his company's warehouse.
The accelerator sits in what has become the center of Silicon Valley's defense tech movement—the LAX-adjacent neighborhood of El Segundo. The first cohort spent a week brainstorming startup ideas, exercising, and consuming what Diepenbrock called "fuel of legends": Monster energy drinks and 50 pounds of ground beef. The framing by investors and founders centers on restoring American industrial capacity and innovation in critical sectors that have lacked competition for decades. Kevin Hartz told Forbes that Diepenbrock "believes in his core mission of restoring industries and furthering the innovation edge of The United States."
The accelerator has drawn some cultural commentary around its association with younger, religious, and visibly right-leaning founders—what Forbes framed as part of a "magnified pro Christian, mostly male led version of Silicon Valley." But the underlying thesis is narrower: autonomous mining equipment, military logistics software, and electronic warfare tools are critical infrastructure gaps, and the capital and talent are now flowing there regardless of founder politics.