Chris Moran has been executive director and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, the investment arm of the US aerospace and defence company, since 2016.
Lockheed Martin Ventures is set up as an evergreen fund. Since it was founded in 2007, it has invested in more than 93 companies. The team, which is split between Silicon Valley and Washington DC, includes 12 investors.
The LM Ventures fund was doubled in size in 2018 to $200m, and then doubled again in 2021 to $400m in a balance sheet carve-out. Moran and his team seek cutting-edge, disruptive technologies and are keen to foster collaboration between portfolio companies and Lockheed Martin.
Moran and his team seek cuttingedge, disruptive technologies and are keen to foster collaboration between portfolio companies and Lockheed Martin
A win for the team is when the parent company enters into a partnership with the start-up or buys products or services from them. However, the ability to return more than the invested capital is a key part of every investment decision as well.
The ventures team invests in a range of technologies from AI to space, advanced materials and quantum computing. A recent investment theme, however, has been technologies that improve Lockheed Martin’s ability to create fast turn prototypes, reducing cycle time and reduce costs to scale.
For example, the team invested in Antaris Space, a company offering software tools to simplify the design and simulation of small satellites and constellations. Earlier this year, the ventures team also invested in space connectivity company, Elve and made a speculative investment in Helicity Space.
Before joining Lockheed Martin, Moran had a career of more than 32 years at Applied Materials, the US-based advanced materials company, including 10 years at the company’s Applied Ventures investment arm where he was the founding general manager of that fund.
Moran has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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