Lockheed venture arm spreads its wings overseas

Lockheed Martin’s venture capital arm focused on emerging technologies has made its first investment outside the United States in Main Sequence Ventures, itself another emerging technology investment fund that is just a year old.

Australia-based Main Sequence Ventures said Wednesday it closed an almost $232 million fund with Lockheed Martin Ventures among several backers that included Australia’s government, a fund backed by Sinagpore’s government, CSIRO and the University of Melbourne. Shortly after launch, Main Sequence Ventures closed an initial $100 million fund.

Main Sequence Venture's goal is to invest in companies focused on satellite sensor networks, autonomous vehicles, quantum computing and digital health care. So far it has made 12 deals.

Satellites, sensors and autonomous technologies are three primary areas of interest for Lockheed’s venture arm after it refocused two years ago to concentrate on emerging technologies the company views as disruptive to industry and customers.

Lockheed doubled the size of the venture fund to $200 million in June.