Anduril Industries, a defense tech start-up, raised $1.5 billion, making the company valued at $14 billion, co-led by Founders Fund, which is Peter Thiel's venture capital firm, and Sands Capital. Anduril now joins a small, elite group of high-valued defense companies like Lockheed Martin (LMT). The company's goal is "to manufacture and produce tens of thousands of autonomous weapons systems addressing the urgent needs of the United States and our allies," according to a company press release.

Venrock Partner Nick Beim joins Asking For A Trend to give insight into the Andruil's recent raise of capital funds and the defense sector at large.

Beim begins with: "I think there's a boom in the global defense industry generally. We've got wars in Europe and the Middle East. China has adopted a very aggressive military posture toward Taiwan and is trying to leapfrog US military capabilities by investing in tech. And so broadly, the defense industry is booming."

He continues with: "Second, and probably most interestingly, it's becoming clear that the character of warfare is changing significantly due to emerging technologies. So I think the future of warfare will be much more driven by AI software and autonomous systems at the edge than by the traditional military platforms that are used today." He adds that he thinks venture-back companies are "now best positioned to provide these critical systems."

Watch the video above to hear what Beim thinks about venture-backed defense startups potentially going public.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Asking for a Trend.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino