Swarm Defense Technologies

Why it fits

Swarm Defense announced a minimum $25 million Department of War order for 4,000 Kiwi attack drones. The only equity on record is $1,435,000. The company says its swarm control software was developed over eight years of drone light shows.

Stage and round

A Form D filed 17 April 2026 reports $1,435,000 of equity sold to 10 investors (one non-accredited) and names none. FPDS shows $1,174,176 obligated across three awards. The company won no delivery order after Gauntlet I, placed fifth in Gauntlet II deep strike, and announced the minimum $25 million, 4,000-drone prototype order on 22 September 2026. It was not in FPDS on 2 October 2026.

Ask on the first call

1. 01What is the relationship with Firefly Drone Shows: which entity owns the swarm software, flight controller designs and employees, and do the two share a cap table?
2. 02Who are the 10 investors in the $1,435,000 on the Form D, on what terms, and is a larger raise planned to fund the 4,000-drone order?
3. 03On the Kiwi order, what is the delivery schedule, who supplies the munitions, and how much of the roughly $6,250 per drone stays with Swarm Defense?
4. 04What is actual monthly output today? The February 2026 release says capacity of 72,000 units a year, and a March 2026 WNEM report says 12,000 a year.

Risks

• –Separation from Firefly Drone Shows is unclear. The company says it spun out in August 2024 and shares resources with Firefly. The New York Times describes a rename.
• –The program behind its one large order re-ranks vendors each round. It won no delivery order after Gauntlet I and placed fifth of five in Gauntlet II deep strike.
• –Delivering an armed product at this scale is unproven. The New York Times described October 2025 output as target drones under 2 pounds. The company gave no delivery schedule.

Could not confirm

• ?The company claims capacity of 72,000 units a year, a single operator controlling 2,000+ drones and a fully NDAA-compliant supply chain. None is independently confirmed.
• ?A PitchBook search snippet lists a $1.44M seed round on 17 April 2026, not confirmed. The Form D does not call the round a seed.
• ?A search snippet says Adam Wright served a decade as a Navy SEAL and a LinkedIn snippet gives University of Chicago Booth. Neither page could be opened.