Warhound raises $200M to engineer war dogs and arm them with Anduril gear

Warhound has raised $200 million to develop genetically engineered war dogs for the U.S. military, law enforcement, and emergency response teams. The company was backed by investors including Sequoia, 8VC, Corner Ventures, and In-Q-Tel, a venture firm backed by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. The round values the company at $1.2 billion.

The hope is that Colossal can use its technology to engineer dogs with “characteristics suited to demanding missions,” the company said in a press release. Lamm believed dogs could be enhanced for health, longevity, and “for things like speed and agility or enhance olfactory sensors for bomb sniffing and whatnot,” he said. His team studied top-performing working dog breeds, the Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd, taking cell lines (living cells grown in a lab) from them and putting them in a biobank. From there, the team will edit the dogs’ genes, adding ones that will improve performance and removing ones that will not, to create “a new type of dog.”

Anduril, meanwhile, will provide software and hardware, such as protection vests and goggles, to assist the dogs and their handlers with situational awareness and coordination. Lamm said to imagine, for example, bulletproof vests with data sensors that send information back to the handlers so they can better understand what is happening. “The idea is, if we make the dog safer, make it healthier, make it perform better, it’s going to perform better in the line of duty,” Lamm said. He added that Anduril’s additions will make the dogs safer and healthier beyond their genetics, “on top of the dog, not in the dog.” He believes the enhancements will also better protect the dogs’ human handlers.

The first batch of dogs is about to be cloned and incubated, with births expected early next year and service ideally beginning within two years. Viagen, another Colossal-owned company, will partner with Warhound to clone the dogs. Lamm said Viagen’s technology has a high cloning success rate, and Colossal already uses it in its program to protect endangered species.

Warhound doesn’t know yet how much it will charge for the dogs, but it expects to sell to first responders, the Department of Defense, military service groups, and police forces. Asked about government approval, Lamm said the company has briefed many government groups about the business. Asked about civilian safety once genetically enhanced dogs enter service, Lamm said each dog will be trained like any military working dog and managed by whoever buys it. The company said it is working under the guidance of the American Humane Society to help certify Warhound’s training program for the new dogs.