Corporate / CVC · 1 deal
Every published round Lockheed Martin took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
| Company | Stage | Announced | Amount | Role | Alongside | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortisonic | undisclosed | 2 Feb 2026 | - | Participant | Forbes Australia, Main Sequence, Main Sequence Ventures portfolio |
Companies Lockheed Martin has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortisonic | 2 Feb 2026, undisclosed | 1 | 0 |
This is a stake in the fund itself, money that the fund's manager invests, not a stake in the fund manager.
| Fund | Manager | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Fund II | Main Sequence Ventures | @AuManufacturing, Main Sequence |
Companies Lockheed Martin has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Lockheed Martin did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Dr Tony Lindsay | Director | Forbes Australia |
| Christopher Hess | Head of Industrial Development | @AuManufacturing |
| David Ball | Regional Director Australia and New Zealand | @AuManufacturing |
| Thomas Loftus | Senior Fellow | Defence Connect |
Stories naming Lockheed Martin. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
The US Defense Department has conditionally committed a US$400m loan to Sunrise Energy Metals to develop its Syerston scandium mine in New South Wales, announced at a Washington meeting with President Trump.
Also Dealroom
Defense startup Singularity has surfaced from stealth, securing a large Series A co-led by two venture firms to scale production of affordable systems that counter cheap drones, with backing from several established investors.
Profile of Palmer Luckey tracing his Oculus VR venture, its multibillion-dollar Facebook acquisition, his co-founding of defense tech firm Anduril Industries, and his gaming hardware venture ModRetro.
Main Sequence announces backing Cortisonic, a deep-tech startup coming out of stealth with phononic chips for low-power edge AI, plus an Australian defence contract and a Lockheed Martin partnership.
Also Forbes Australia
Advanced Navigation has hired Michelle Toscan to lead its Asia-Pacific operations, tasking her with defence and government engagement as the navigation systems maker supplies primes including Rheinmetall and Boeing.
Q-CTRL has won $38 million of DARPA defence contracts to build GPS-independent quantum navigation technology, working alongside Lockheed Martin on jam-proof sensors.
Also Defence Connect
DroneShield's 2023 results hit record revenue and a first profit as war-driven demand for its counter-drone equipment surged, with strong cash receipts, a growing order backlog and expanded production planned in Sydney and Adelaide.
Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has taken an undisclosed strategic stake in Earth-observation data platform Arlula, which earlier in 2023 raised $2.2 million in a round led by Main Sequence Ventures.
Lockheed Martin has chosen Australian firms Axiom and Nupress to machine components for the Orion spacecraft, NASA's Moon mission, with each already holding contracts under Lockheed's Australian industry program.
A roundup of Australian defence industry items: submarine build plans reaffirmed, missile supply contracts for Kongsberg and Lockheed Martin, DroneShield purchase orders, an F-35 warehouse deal, and questions over a shipbuilding college closure.
Search technology firm Algolia has bought Sydney startup Search.io, formerly Sajari, and plans one API combining keyword and vector semantic search. Its founders and 2020 backer Tidal Ventures stand to gain.
Sydney drone company Carbonix has secured $6.3 million in seed funding led by Quickstep, which will help scale production, as the firm begins a contract with utility Ausgrid for power network monitoring.
Also @AuManufacturing
A partnership of Lockheed Martin, Omni Tanker and UNSW Sydney has received AMGC Commercialisation Fund money to develop composite cryogenic tanks for liquid hydrogen, aimed at satellite and space applications.
Weekly roundup covering Main Sequence's second-fund close, operating partner hires at Blackbird and AirTree, raises by Sea Forest, Adventus.io, Halter and others, acquisitions by Equiem, Stripe and Toyota, plus Big Tech earnings.
Australia's Main Sequence has pulled in A$250 million for its second deep tech fund, with existing backers returning and a sharpened emphasis on decarbonisation investments.
Also TechCrunch Venture·TechCrunch Venture·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·TechCrunch Venture
Imaging startup 1Millikelvin received a $149,800 Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre grant to commercialise MiTE, a portable infrared stress-measuring device developed with Defence scientists alongside partners Outerspace and RMIT University.
Also @AuManufacturing
A case study of Canberra test-and-measurement firm Liquid Instruments, covering its global expansion supported by the EMDG export grant and consultancy Export Solutions, and naming major international customers.
CPE Capital's defence-focused subsidiary ASDAM has agreed to acquire Levett Engineering, a South Australian precision components maker, to join Marand in a planned engineering platform serving defence and aerospace clients.
Canberra revealed naval defence work, including a submarine design subcontract linking Lockheed Martin and Safran, plus a $3.5 million government grant helping Sypaq Systems build a drone for naval surveillance use.
Profile of quantum computing software firm QxBranch, covering its origins, team and locations, and noting its July 2019 acquisition by California-based Rigetti Computing.
Also Startup Daily