Shield Capital closes raise for inaugural fund

Shield Capital, one of several venture investment firms focused on defense technology, has completed the raise of $186 million in capital commitments for its inaugural fund focused on early stage backings.

That amount is 55% above the target Shield set to raise from institutional and private investors for Shield Capital Fund I, approximately two years after the group launched to identify and financially back startups whose technologies are scalable in national security and commercial markets.

"This successful fundraise enables us to back additional founders and provide even greater assistance to our current portfolio,” Shield managing partner Raj Shah said in a release Monday.

Shah, the former Defense Innovation Unit Experimental lead official, co-leads Shield alongside fellow managing partner Philip Bilden

Artificial intelligence, autonomy, cybersecurity and space represent some of Shield’s major focus areas across its portfolio of nearly 30 companies.

Shield also has a key partner in L3Harris Technologies, which leans on that relationship as part of a larger push to grow its overall partnership network and bring new technologies into systems on a quicker turn.