Aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin yesterday doubled the amount of funding its corporate venturing arm Lockheed Martin Ventures has under management to $200m.
The additional $100m follows recent tax form legislation in the US and will primarily go to early-stage startups in the areas of sensor technologies, autonomy, artificial intelligence and cybertechnology.
Concurrently, Lockheed Martin Ventures revealed it has invested an undisclosed sum in NTopology, a US-based developer of computer-aided design software that previously closed a $7.6m series A round in November 2017.
The series A round was co-led by Data Collective and Root Ventures, with participation from CrunchFund, Haystack, Pathbreaker and 1517.
The increased funding for the corporate venturing division forms part of a $460m commitment that Lockheed Martin is making across its business operations.
The company will also put $200m towards R&D this year; $100m towards staff training over the next five years; $50m towards science, technology, engineering and maths education and a related scholarship fund; and $10m towards the launch of the Lockheed Martin Innovation Prize competition.
Chris Moran, vice-president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, said: “Our focus is on finding and investing in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that will grow our business and disrupt our industry.
“We are developing long-term strategic partnerships with companies and helping them navigate through the early stages of product development while leveraging our decades of experience working with government customers.”