$635M Exit → $600M Fund: David Ulevitch on Building a16z’s Hottest New Fund

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Nov 22, 2025

David Ulevitch, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former founder of OpenDNS, dives into American Dynamism and their impressive $600M fund. He discusses the U.S. supply-chain vulnerabilities to China and advocates for deterrence over parity in defense. Ulevitch highlights sectors ripe for investment like robotics-driven manufacturing and energy. He also explains Anduril's unique marketing strategy and shares his insights on talent acquisition in the startup world, emphasizing the importance of mission-driven cultures.

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INSIGHT

Deterrence Over Parity

The U.S. is currently supply-chain dependent on China for advanced manufacturing and materials.
David Ulevitch argues deterrence and asymmetric capabilities can be a better strategy than parity in production capacity.

ADVICE

Focus Upstream And Automate Manufacturing

Invest in transforming U.S. manufacturing with robotics and automation to regain production resilience.
Focus upstream on mining and materials like lithium, copper, and steel to reduce dependency on foreign supply chains.

ANECDOTE

Portfolio Tour Of American Dynamism

David lists portfolio companies across energy, defense, space, public safety, and mining to illustrate American Dynamism's breadth.
He highlights Radiant Nuclear, Base Power, Anduril, Castellian, Skydio, Flock Safety, and Mariana Minerals as examples.

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a16z General Partner David Ulevitch joins Sourcery to break down the real state of American Dynamism, their $600M fund, across defense, energy, mining, robotics, manufacturing, public safety, and national security.

We discuss America’s supply-chain exposure to China, why deterrence—not parity—defines the future of U.S. defense, and how new companies are rebuilding core capabilities in nuclear, missiles, autonomy, grid reliability, materials, mining, and industrial operations.

David highlights key a16z portfolio companies including Anduril, Radiant Nuclear, Base Power, Exowatt, Apex, Skydio, Flock, Long Eye, and Mariana Minerals, and shares why the best founders are magnetic attractors of capital and talent.

We also dive into Anduril’s authenticity-first marketing philosophy (“no renders” - Palmer Luckey), the “Don’t Work at Anduril” campaign led by Snap Alumn Jeff Miller, the importance of real test footage, and why mission-driven cultures are fueling the next generation of frontier companies.

A broad, detailed look at the future of American reindustrialization and the companies shaping it.

Select Portfolio Companies & Areas:

• AI: Applied Intuition, Ambient AI

• Defense: Anduril, Saronic, Shield AI, Castelion,

• Energy: Radiant, Base Power, Exowatt, RigUp

• Aerospace: SpaceX, Apex, Northwood, Aerodome, Air Space Intelligence (ASI), Astro Mechanica, Astranis

• Manufacturing: Hadrian, Senra

• Public Safety: Flock Safety, Long Eye, Skydio

• Supply Chain: Zipline, Flexport,

• Minerals: Mariana Materials, KoBold Metals

David Ulevitch: https://x.com/davidu

Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc

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(00:00) America’s supply-chain vulnerability

(03:28) Most investable wedges: robotics, automation & lights-out factories

(04:11) Rebuilding U.S. minerals & mining capacity (lithium, copper, steel)

(04:29) Applying software to legacy sectors (lumber, metals, production)

(05:20) Energy: Radiant’s microreactor & first new U.S. design in 50+ years

(06:23) Grid resiliency & storage: Base Power, Exowatt

(07:12) Defense innovation: Anduril, Saronic, Castelion

(08:28) Public safety tech: Flock Safety, Long Eye & Skydio

(13:30) Anduril’s “no renders” rule & authentic product culture

(14:27) Inside the “Don’t Work at Anduril” campaign

(19:11) Talent density: references, hiring, firing & magnetic teams

(20:45) Lessons from building OpenDNS: reinvention, team rebuilds & decade-long “overnight success”

(26:00) Kalshi’s growth & future of prediction markets