By Marc Vartabedian

Venture-capital firms have sought a leg up in the hot defense tech sector by bolstering connections with military and intelligence agencies. For one firm, that meant hiring directly from the Central Intelligence Agency.

Juliane Gallina, who spent a dozen years in two stints at the CIA, most recently as deputy director for digital innovation, joined Lavrock Ventures in November as a partner focusing on military and intelligence-related startups, including those with commercial applications.

At the CIA, Gallina sought to improve the agency's working relationship with Silicon Valley to spur investment in startups developing defense and national security technologies.

Investors committed $39.9 billion globally to defense tech startups through the third quarter of this year, eclipsing the full-year totals of the prior three years, according to analytics firm PitchBook Data.

Founded in 2015, Arlington, Va.-based Lavrock is investing out of its third fund, which had an initial close this year of nearly $100 million. The fund has a $125 million target and will close early in 2026, Lavrock said. The five-person firm targets technology for both commercial markets and the intelligence community. Lavrock's portfolio spans enterprise software, data, quantum computing, aerospace, defense and manufacturing. Portfolio companies include missile startup Castelion and satellite-tech developer CesiumAstro.

WSJ Pro spoke with Gallina about her foray into investing and where she sees the most potential in an increasingly crowded sector. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

WSJ Pro: What neat spy tech do you have your eye on as an investor?

Gallina: Without pre-coordinating my comments with the agency, I would hesitate to comment. I can say, while at the CIA, we received overtures from industry in multitudes each day. It almost exceeded our bandwidth. I had to set up an office just to handle the inbound flow of new solutions and ideas. There's no shortage of creativity in every discipline -- nano technology, micro electronics, secure communications, AI analytics and compute.

WSJ Pro: Why make this jump into venture?

Gallina: I believe the United States's strategic advantage depends on vibrant private sector innovation. I feel this is almost a continuation of my service in that I'm now helping foster a vibrant startup community that focuses on national security. The through line in my career has been adapting nascent, emerging or disruptive technologies for national security. I was attracted to Lavrock in part because I could focus on a variety of technology areas.

WSJ Pro: A growing number of venture firms are investing in defense tech. How did you decide on Lavrock?

Gallina: I was introduced to Lavrock Co-Founder and General Partner Jim Hunt by a friend about a decade ago. Jim is a former officer from my agency and we had some things in common because he had come from a technical discipline at the agency years ago. He became a mentor to me over the past decade and we kept in touch.

WSJ Pro: Defense and national security tech is having a moment. What's driving it?

Gallina: Not too long ago, including during Covid, some supply chain concerns and dependencies on other countries were revealed. That was a surprise to some people. I think that was a wake-up call for people in the national security space that there were opportunities for improvement in America's ability in manufacturing its own solutions.

WSJ Pro: What do venture investors typically get wrong about intelligence or defense tech?

Gallina: It's hard for the intelligence community to articulate what it needs because there really are some methods and techniques that are sensitive that should not be disclosed to just any vendor. So it's sometimes hard for government people in the intelligence community to clearly articulate what they're looking for or even to describe the problem they have. It's just fraught with secrecy.

Write to Marc Vartabedian at marc.vartabedian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 29, 2025 10:00 ET (15:00 GMT)

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