Vannevar Labs

Vannevar Labs

Secure, decentralized data collection for government

Overview

Vannevar Labs provides Decrypt, a platform that helps government agencies and defense contractors collect, analyze, and distribute public data for national security purposes. Decrypt works by aggregating information from diverse global sources without requiring direct user interaction. It uses layered obfuscation to mask data origins and destinations, helping protect user identities and data integrity, and it employs an open architecture that makes it easy to integrate with other government and commercial applications. This approach differentiates Vannevar Labs from competitors by offering a decentralized, easily adaptable data-collection system with built-in anonymity. The company's goal is to supply mission-critical data securely and efficiently through a subscription-based service, delivering reliable tools for data gathering and analysis to its defense and intelligence clients.

Significant Headcount Growth

About Vannevar Labs

Simplify's Rating
Why Vannevar Labs is rated
B
Rated A on Competitive Edge
Rated B on Growth Potential
Rated C on Differentiation

Industries

Data & Analytics

Government & Public Sector

Defense

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Series B

Total Funding

$91.5M

Headquarters

Palo Alto, California

Founded

2019

Get referred to Vannevar Labs

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Knox let Vannevar win FedRAMP High in months, preserving capital for product development.
  • The SMX deal targets six Combatant Commands and federal civilian agencies immediately.
  • Vannevar's February 2026 Marine Corps demo proved tactical-edge interoperability under five weeks.

What critics are saying

  • Vannevar's business depends on federal procurement cycles; shutdowns and protests freeze revenue.
  • SMX owns prime contracts; Vannevar risks being squeezed into subcontractor margins.
  • Any security lapse or false positive inside homeland missions would kill FedRAMP trust.

What makes Vannevar Labs unique

  • FedRAMP High Authorization with Knox on June 23, 2026 opens sensitive federal deployments.
  • SMX partnership on April 21, 2026 gives Vannevar prime-contract reach across Combatant Commands.
  • Vannevar already supports 125-plus deployments across DoD and U.S. government agencies.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Funding

Total Funding

$91.5M

Above

Industry Average

Funded Over

3 Rounds

Notable Investors:
Series B funding is typically for startups that have proven their business model and need more funding to expand rapidly—often by entering new markets or adding more products. Investors are usually venture capital firms that specialize in later-stage investments.
Series B Funding Comparison
Above Average

Industry standards

$35M
$45M
Linktree
$65M
Substack
$75M
Vannevar Labs
$100M
ClickUp

Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Remote Work Options

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Paid Vacation

Salary top-up during military reserve duty

Fully paid parental leave

Childcare Support

Pet Insurance

Lifestyle stipends - Monthly mental health, wellness & fitness stipend

In-home office setup stipend

Family Planning Benefits

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-3%

1 year growth

3%

2 year growth

5%
Vannevar Labs
Jul 30th, 2026
Vannevar recognized as one of the most enduring Next Billion-Dollar startup alumni.

Vannevar recognized as one of the most enduring Next Billion-Dollar startup alumni. Forbes and TrueBridge Capital just published a decade retrospective on their Next Billion-Dollar Startups list - looking back across hundreds of alumni to identify the companies that build enduring businesses, not just high valuations. Vannevar was recognized in the top 10 of those alumni. As Forbes noted: "The companies that produced the most durable outcomes ultimately justified those valuations through sustained commercial execution. The strongest businesses didn't simply raise larger rounds. They expanded into larger markets, deepened customer relationships and translated early promise into enduring market leadership. Their valuations were ultimately a consequence of building exceptional businesses, not the reason they became exceptional." For Vannevar specifically, Forbes also called out an exciting milestone: its government contracts now surpass its total equity funding. Vannevar joins a group that includes Anduril, Rippling, Figma, and DoorDash - companies that turned early promise into businesses that lasted. Vannevar Labs, Inc. started with a belief that software-first defense companies could become enduring businesses. This recognition reflects progress on that bet.

ExecutiveBiz
Jun 24th, 2026
Vannevar earns FedRAMP High Authorization for ai-enabled mission systems.

Vannevar earns FedRAMP High Authorization for ai-enabled mission systems. * Vannevar has obtained FedRAMP High Authorization in partnership with Knox Systems * Authorization enables federal agencies to access Vannevar's AI-powered mission systems * The 2026 Homeland Security Summit will spotlight AI, cyber defense and more As federal agencies adopt advanced technologies to strengthen homeland security missions, government and industry leaders will gather at the Potomac Officers Club's 2026 Homeland Security Summit on Nov. 12 to discuss evolving mission requirements. Key topics include artificial intelligence, cyber defense and operational capabilities across major Department of Homeland Security agencies. Reserve your spot now! Vannevar said Tuesday it obtained FedRAMP High Authorization within months through its work with Knox, enabling the company to continue focusing resources on mission system development. How do Vannevar's agentic AI & software offerings support Homeland Security missions? According to Vannevar, its software and agentic AI platforms support homeland security and law enforcement missions. The company said its offerings are designed to assist personnel with threat detection, information analysis and operational decision-making. Vannevar Chief Technology Officer Tushar Narayan said the authorization will enable the company to deploy advanced AI capabilities in high-security government environments while complying with security and transparency requirements. Knox Systems CEO Irina Denisenko said Vannevar's national security mission requires compliance with the highest federal standards. "By partnering with Knox to obtain FedRAMP High Authorization, Vannevar continues to drive real mission impact, giving homeland security and law enforcement personnel the best available technology for their ever-evolving missions," added Denisenko. What is Vannevar? Vannevar is a national security company focused on developing mission-specific software designed to help operators identify threats, understand complex environments and make decisions more quickly. According to Vannevar, its platforms use adversarial data and agentic AI to support operators and decision-makers across government missions, including homeland security, strategic competition and critical infrastructure protection.

Thomasville Times-Enterprise
Apr 21st, 2026
SMX and Vannevar partner to deliver mission-specific AI agents.

SMX and Vannevar partner to deliver mission-specific AI agents. PR Newswire Today at 1:15am PDT Agreement Marks Vannevar's First Official Strategic Partnership PALO ALTO, Calif., April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Vannevar and SMX have entered into a strategic partnership to bring mission-specific warfighting agents to the Combatant Commands (COCOMs) and select federal agencies. The partnership is designed to accelerate operational outcomes by combining Vannevar's data, AI, and mission analytics capabilities with SMX's enterprise-scale delivery, prime contract positions, and proven execution across all geographic Combatant Commands, select Service Components, and Federal Civilian Agencies. Together, Vannevar and SMX will oversee agent deployments with an AI-enabled services model, embedding mission and technical experts onsite to scale usage and mission outcomes. Vannevar began working with SMX in 2021 to support Special Operations Command Pacific open source intelligence activities, and in 2025 expanded our work to provide agentic capabilities for interagency operations. Building on that work, the partnership expands joint delivery through deeper data integrations, mission-relevant datasets, and reasoning agents built for targeted use cases such as Western Hemisphere defense, counter-narcotics operations, and information dominance. "Modern operations demand more than access to information. They demand the ability to turn disparate and complex data into timely insights that drive action at the speed of everything from competition to conflict," said Erin Biggers, Executive VP of Mission at Vannevar. "This partnership is about rapidly fielding warfighting agents that fit how teams actually work, and delivering decision advantage that is measurable, repeatable, and ready to scale." "SMX brings a strong track record of delivering mission-critical capabilities at scale across the global operational landscape," said Dana Dewey, President of Global Defense at SMX. "By combining our execution strength and mission footprint with Vannevar's agentic capabilities, we can accelerate the transition from prototype to sustained operational- embedding mission-specific AI directly into end-user workflows and drive real-world outcomes." What this partnership enables The partnership is structured to move rapidly from mission needs to fielded capability, with an emphasis on operational workflows and repeatable deployment models. Key themes include: * Integration of existing platforms to support data sharing and analysis, including hard-to-access datasets that can confirm or tip analysts and uncover new insights. * Agent infrastructure capable of model-agnostic agent orchestration, model performance monitoring, real-time model evaluation, and workflow development. * Mission-specific agent deployments that enable customized workflows, including deep tradecraft specialization in geospatial, COA planning, and Information Operations that can compress key tasks from days to minutes. * AI-enabled mission services, including embedded agent and mission experts who can tune and adapt deployments to customer needs, train teams, and accelerate time-to-outcome. Where we will focus first In the near term, the partnership will focus on joint go-to-market offerings aligned to both organizations' existing footprints, including priority missions and stakeholders across six Combatant Commands and a targeted set of Federal Civilian agencies where mission sets are aligned to deploying frontier AI against top national security challenges. Built for rapid fielding and flexible acquisition The partnership will pursue opportunities through a mix of rapid acquisition pathways and traditional mechanisms, with a deliberate emphasis on OTAs where they accelerate speed, flexibility, and transition to production. SMX and Vannevar are aligned on rapidly fielding capabilities based on validated user demand, then expanding usage from initial deployments to program-level adoption. Looking ahead SMX and Vannevar will operate with an accelerated cadence for partnership execution, including customer prioritization, developing new reasoning agents, and overseeing their deployment in operational settings. About Vannevar Vannevar builds defense software for 21st-century conflict. Its platform delivers information dominance and decision advantage - improving targeting, accelerating planning, and strengthening both homeland defense and Indo-Pacific deterrence. Powered by one petabyte of rare adversarial data, Vannevar's agentic AI adapts to each mission and operates at the tactical edge. Learn more at www.vannevarlabs.com. About SMX SMX is an industry-leading provider of product-focused solutions for mission-oriented clients, operating across the United States and around the globe. SMX delivers scalable and secure solutions combined with the mission expertise needed to accelerate outcomes for the Department of War, Intelligence Community, Public Sector, Fortune 1000, and other public and private sector clients. For more information on our solutions, please visit https://www.smxtech.com/. SOURCE Vannevar Labs This is a paid placement. For further inquiries, please contact PR Newswire directly.

Vannevar Labs
Feb 18th, 2026
Art of the Edge: Building New Capabilities for MCTSSA

Art of the Edge: building new capabilities for MCTSSA. In February 2026, Vannevar joined a composite team to successfully demonstrate a live "Art of the Edge" integrated capability for senior Marine Corps leadership. The demo was the product of a focused five-week sprint across a coalition of partners, built around a simple goal: move at operational speed against real mission problems, and prove Vannevar Labs, Inc. can integrate in ways that matter at the tactical edge. Vannevar Labs, Inc. is proud to have been part of this collaboration, and grateful to the team that turned a concept into a working, integrated capability in a short window. Vannevar Labs, Inc. partnered with Ultra, leveraging a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA), whose mission includes technical support, interoperability certification, testing, integration, and life-cycle support for C4I systems. Interoperability as the force multiplier. The value of "Art of the Edge" is not just that systems can talk to each other. It is what becomes possible when they do. In the words of Thomas "TJ" Johnson at MCTSSA: "We are providing commanders at the tactical edge with the context needed to understand the environment in real-time. This 'Art of the Edge' architecture provides a vision into the broader range of response options and the flexibility to act with precision in complex, contested environments." "We are providing commanders at the tactical edge with the context needed to understand the environment in real-time." - Thomas "TJ" Johnson, MCTSSA Senior Principal Engineer for Combined and Joint Interoperability Vannevar's role in the integrated capability was to enrich battle tracks with mission-specific data and reasoning agents, helping convert raw signals into decision-ready outputs inside Ultra's platform. When you're moving fast with many mission partners, interoperability is the force multiplier. The WEST demo aimed to prove that these capabilities are not a standalone vignette but a modular architecture where each parter contributes distinct strengths to extend the core system. In practice, that means commanders at the tactical edge get more than "what" they are seeing. They get better visibility into the "so what" and "now what" even in complex, contested environments. The demo received strong positive feedback during the AFCEA West conference, resonating with senior leadership including the Commanding General of Marine Corps Systems Command. It surfaced a clear demand signal: that integrated, interoperable, mission-ready systems are available to the warfighter today, rather than a future aspiration.not a future aspiration. There is pull to make this real and repeatable. What comes next. Momentum matters most right after a demo, when interest is fresh and partners are aligned. The team is already tracking down opportunities to deploy this partnered solution in upcoming Marine Corps and joint exercises alongside MCTSSA. Vannevar Labs, Inc. also have clear internal takeaways on how to further enhance the performance of its agents for specific mission outcomes in operational environments. Thank you to MCTSSA, the AFCEA venue, and its mission partners for making this collaboration possible. You can lear more about the Department of the Navy's Technology Transfer Program here.

PR Newswire
Jan 20th, 2026
Vannevar appoints Eric Ransom as chief legal officer to guide AI defence expansion

Vannevar, a company building AI agents for national security missions, has appointed Eric Ransom as Chief Legal Officer. Ransom brings nearly two decades of experience in government service, private practice and industry, with expertise in defence acquisition and emerging technology. Ransom joins from Crowell & Moring, where he was a partner advising defence contractors and venture-backed defence companies. He previously helped launch Scale AI's defence business as its first in-house counsel for Public Sector and spent over a decade at the Government Accountability Office's Bid Protest Division. In his role, Ransom will lead legal functions, government contracting strategy and compliance programmes. Vannevar currently supports over 125 deployments across the Department of Defense and US government.

Recently Posted Jobs

Sign up to get curated job recommendations

Vannevar Labs is Hiring for 17 Jobs on Simplify!

Find jobs on Simplify and start your career today

Don't see your dream role? Check out thousands of other roles on Simplify. Browse all jobs →