Warhound Unveils $200M Bid to Build Genetically Enhanced Military Dogs

Warhound, a new company backed by Colossal Biosciences’ Ben Lamm and Anduril’s Palmer Luckey, emerged from stealth on Thursday with $200 million in funding. The round, which values the company at $1.2 billion, includes investments from Sequoia, 8VC, Corner Ventures, and In-Q-Tel. The company plans to genetically engineer dogs for the U.S. military, law enforcement, and other emergency response teams.

The company aims to address a specific supply chain issue. Warhound stated that more than 80% of the U.S. military’s working dogs are sourced from Europe, and fewer than half of those dogs are deemed fit for service. The venture seeks to create a domestic supply of dogs engineered for specific, demanding tasks such as bomb detection and search operations. Lamm explained that the company’s goal is to engineer dogs with “characteristics suited to demanding missions.”

The collaboration began about a year ago at a conference where Lamm and Luckey discussed improving support for the military’s working dogs. Following that meeting, Lamm researched the breeding of working dogs and learned that many fail training due to inherited health issues such as poor eyesight, cancer, hip dysplasia, and muscle atrophy. To address this, Lamm’s team studied top-performing working dog breeds, specifically the Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd, and took cell lines from them to place in a biobank.

From this biobank, the team plans to edit the dogs' genes to create “a new type of dog.” The process involves adding genes to improve performance and removing others that do not serve the animal's health or mission requirements. Lamm stated the objective is to enhance dogs for health, longevity, and “for things like speed and agility or enhance olfactory sensors for bomb sniffing and whatnot.” He noted that while Colossal owns equity in the business and licenses its technology to Warhound, Luckey is a partner in the venture but owns no equity.

Anduril will contribute software and hardware to support the dogs and their handlers. This equipment includes protective vests and goggles designed to assist with situational awareness. Lamm described potential equipment such as bulletproof vests with data sensors that would send information back to handlers to improve their understanding of the situation. He stated, “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.”

The company expects to begin cloning the first batch of dogs soon, with births anticipated early next year. Service with these dogs is ideally expected to begin within two years. Viagen, another Colossal-owned company, will handle the cloning process. Warhound expects to sell to first responders, the Department of Defense, military service groups, and police forces, though it has not yet set a price.

Warhound is working under the guidance of the American Humane Society to help certify the training program for these new dogs. The society also aims to provide homes for the dogs through its Military Working Dog Reunification Program when they retire. The American Humane Society stated, “We applaud Warhound and Colossal for inviting the country’s first national humane organization.. to have a seat at the table.”