Smack Technologies Lands $32M for Defense AI

Smack Technologies was co-founded in 2024 by MARSOC veterans Andrew Markoff and Clint Alanis, who bring over twenty years of combined combat experience to the venture. Their background in Marine Corps Special Operations Command directly informs the company's mission to address gaps in military decision-making processes. The recent $32 million injection comes from a Series A round co-led by Geodesic Capital and Costanoa Ventures, with participation from notable investors like Point72 Ventures, Felicis, and Bloomberg Beta. This funding is aimed at expanding the company's technical team and accelerating the research and development of its AI models for all branches of the military. The company's core objective is to deliver "Decision Dominance" to the U.S. Department of War, enabling military planners to make complex, data-driven decisions in seconds rather than days. CEO Andrew Markoff has stated that this capability is the only achievable goal before 2027 that could be a deciding factor in preventing a third World War. Smack is developing two main product suites, Omega and Alpha, which utilize deep reinforcement learning. These platforms are trained in proprietary synthetic warfare environments to break down decision-making silos and allow for rapid, campaign-informed planning across various time horizons. Unlike some competitors, Smack's approach is not just about sensor data fusion but about optimizing the entire decision-making process, or "kill chain." The AI models are designed to be grounded in adversary tactics and multi-domain physics to be effective in high-stakes conflicts. The firm has already secured contracts with the Joint Fires Network (JFN) and the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL), indicating early adoption and validation of its technology within the U.S. armed forces.