---
title: "Smack’s $61M Series B: Decision AI From Command Post to Tactical Edge"
description: "Costanoa and First In led Smack Technologies’ $61M Series B (total >$90M) to build Alpha hardware that pairs with Omega command planning already moving into U.S. military production."
date: 2026-08-18T00:00:00.000Z
tags: ["2026-vc-news", "startup-funding", "venture-capital", "defense-tech", "artificial-intelligence"]
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/2026-smack-61m-series-b-costanoa-first-in-defense-ai
---

# Smack’s $61M Series B: Decision AI From Command Post to Tactical Edge

> Costanoa and First In led Smack Technologies’ $61M Series B (total >$90M) to build Alpha hardware that pairs with Omega command planning already moving into U.S. military production.

**Smack Technologies** raised a **$61 million Series B** announced **August 18, 2026**, led by **Costanoa Ventures** and **First In**, bringing total capital to **over $90 million**.

**Unexpected truth:** the Series B is not only more model training. It funds **hardware** so Alpha can push “intelligent autonomy” to the **tactical edge** while Omega already targets command-level production.

## Key facts

| Field | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Company | Smack Technologies (Austin; founded 2024; MARSOC co-founders) |
| Round | **$61M Series B** |
| Date | August 18, 2026 (company); PR correction circulated thereafter |
| Co-leads | Costanoa Ventures, First In |
| Notable participants (PR) | Point72 Ventures, Geodesic, Nomi, Felicis, Scribble, Fortitude, Bloomberg Beta, Palumni |
| Cumulative | **>$90M** |
| Products | **Omega** (command planning/ops) → production path; **Alpha** (edge autonomy + hardware) |
| Valuation | Not disclosed |

## Who uses the product — and for what job

**Users:** planners and operators across U.S. military branches who need faster, multi-domain decision loops.

**Job (Omega):** fuse multimodal data and reason across echelons so campaign planning compresses from long staff cycles toward minutes, with rapid replans.

**Job (Alpha):** let distributed forces, weapons, platforms, and autonomous systems act coherently toward mission objectives in contested/degraded environments — Smack’s “Intelligent Autonomy” framing.

## Why now

- Multi-domain warfare (land/sea/air/space/cyber/EMS) outruns human staff tempo.
- Software-only defense AI hits a wall without edge compute/hardware that survives the last tactical mile.
- Prior seed/Series A financed Decision Dominance (Omega); Series B is the manufacturing/hardware chapter.

## Why Costanoa / First In — portfolio fit

Neither lead currently has a Venture Capital Tracker `/fund/` page — names are company/PR-sourced.

| Dimension | Fit |
| --- | --- |
| Thesis | National-security AI with operator founders |
| Stage | Series B hardware + model expansion |
| Syndicate texture | Defense-aware capital (First In) + enterprise/AI venture (Costanoa) + crossover names (Point72, Felicis) |

**Likely founder rationale:** raise from investors who will underwrite **DoD production + hardware co-development**, not from consumer-agent funds optimizing for viral waitlists.

## Competitive map

| Player | Difference |
| --- | --- |
| [Neros](/2026-neros-250m-series-c-sequoia-defense-drones) | Attritable drones / kinetic platforms at mega-scale |
| [Mara](/2026-mara-7m-pre-seed-khosla-a16z-fpv-c-uas) | Pre-seed FPV-cost C-UAS hardware |
| Prime contractors’ C2 suites | Incumbent planning systems; slower software cycles |
| Generalist foundation-model labs | Broad models without Smack’s warfighter domain-expert network claim |

## When not to over-read

- “Moving into production” is company language — not a public contract dollar disclosure in the Series B post.
- No valuation — do not invent one from total capital raised.
- Earlier roundup coverage flagged syndicate detail as medium confidence before company URL; this note uses the company journal + corrected PR.

## Practical takeaway

- **Founders (defense AI):** Separate **command software** milestones from **edge hardware** asks — Smack’s Series B is explicitly the second chapter.
- **Investors:** Prefer syndicates that already diligence ATO/production risk; generic AI logos are not enough.
- **Operators:** Watch Omega production footprints and Alpha hardware timelines more than the raise headline.

### Sources

1. https://smacktechnologies.com/journal/smack-series-b-intelligent-autonomy
2. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smack-raises-61-million-series-b-to-bring-intelligent-autonomy-to-the-tactical-edge-302853326.html

**By:** [Venture Capital Tracker](https://venturecapitaltracker.com/editorial-policy)
**Last updated:** August 28, 2026

**Editorial note:** AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.