American Dynamism has raised $1.18 billion for national-security and industrial startups
Andreessen Horowitz plans to open a regional headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida, next year to focus on defense investments, the firm said. A team at the new base will oversee the American Dynamism fund, which has raised $1.18 billion for startups building technologies for national security and the industrial economy.
The Menlo Park, California-based venture-capital firm is opening the regional headquarters two years after leaving South Florida following a short-lived cryptocurrency office in Miami. Andreessen Horowitz opened that office as an early bet on Miami’s cryptocurrency economy but closed it two years later when the local market declined.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Florida is emerging as a major hub for companies financing the defense business, which is increasingly turning to startups as artificial intelligence and drone warfare reshape the battlefield. Andreessen Horowitz is devoting a larger share of its national focus to defense technology.
Florida hosts the three headquarters that plan and coordinate military operations across Latin America, the Middle East and special global operations. The state also hosts national-security launch complexes along the Space Coast on the Atlantic in Central Florida, government institutions that buy defense equipment and a growing pool of wealthy investors.
Florida’s military importance began with geography, the Journal reported. Its position at the country’s southern maritime gateway and proximity to the Caribbean and Latin America allowed the state to accumulate military importance over decades as new military missions were added.
Defense companies are increasingly coming to Florida to raise money, make connections and meet military and national-security officials who live and work there, according to the Journal. Those officials include Emil Michael, who oversees the Pentagon’s artificial-intelligence efforts and lives in Miami.
Katherine Boyle, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and co-founder of its American Dynamism practice, said she has higher hopes for investing in defense startups in Florida.
“We’ve seen capital move to Florida in the last five years in droves,” Boyle said. “It really is this incredible ecosystem and city that’s been built up over the last several years, and it’s become an important nexus for space, military and funding.”
Florida’s embrace of the defense industry is part of a shift in the state’s economic identity after Miami pulled back from earlier efforts to position itself as the world’s cryptocurrency capital, the Journal reported.
DeSantis said last week that Florida was investing nearly $23 million to strengthen the state’s defense industrial base. The Journal reported the spending is part of an effort to capture part of the defense-technology expansion. Rob Long, chief executive of Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance, development and spaceport authority, said Florida offers a “suite of unmatched financial tools” that lower capital costs through tax savings and other measures.
Florida’s military and defense industry generates $102.6 billion in economic impact and supports more than 865,000 jobs statewide, according to the Florida Defense Industry Economic Impact Analysis. Even so, the number of defense-technology startups based in Florida remains relatively small and trails the larger hubs in Northern and Southern California, the Journal reported.
Space and defense startups have begun appearing in South Florida. Space-Eyes, a geospatial intelligence and counterdrone technology company, recently added Eric Trump as an investor and strategic adviser. Satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital expanded its South Florida presence before Lockheed Martin acquired it in 2024.
Palantir, a data-mining company with extensive federal defense contracts, recently moved its global headquarters to Miami.
Stephen Ross, a real-estate veteran and the largest developer in West Palm Beach, courted Andreessen Horowitz. Ross said the firm’s move “shows young people this is a place where they can start up businesses and grow in an environment that really perpetuates growth.”
Vanderbilt University is expanding plans for a graduate campus in West Palm Beach from 1,000 to 2,000 students. The campus will include defense-technology and national-security studies in the context of space, energy and infrastructure.
The Trump administration has worked to facilitate such initiatives, the Journal reported. Its efforts include proposing ways for space companies to avoid environmental reviews and facilitating more defense contracts between startups and the Pentagon.