Mike Sherbakov 2/26/24 Mike Sherbakov 2/26/24

The Veteran Fund: Lonestar’s Successful Moon Landing with SpaceX, NASA, & Intuitive Machines

The Veteran Fund: Successful Moon Landing with Lonestar Lunar, SpaceX, NASA, & Intuitive Machines

The eagle has landed!

Today marks a significant day for humanity. We are honored to share that through the incredible leadership of our portfolio company, Lonestar, The Veteran Fund is officially on the moon as part of the first American moon landing since 1972.

On Thursday, February 22nd at 18:23 EST, the Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander named Odysseus landed on the Moon, carrying Lonestar Lunar’s Data Center Payload.

This historic event is the first private lunar landing in human history; a monumental achievement that has officially unlocked the lunar economy as a new frontier for innovation, laying the foundation for humanity to become an interplanetary species.

Together with a group of Lonestar’s visionary investors, including IronGate Capital and Scout Ventures, The Veteran Fund proudly sent the Declaration of Independence to the moon lander as the first document to be transmitted for storage.

This successful transmission demonstrates Lonestar’s ability to send, receive, and store data in space. More significantly, this historical event represents the proliferation of liberty and American values into the cosmos.

The Lonestar team is led by CEO Chris Stott, whose vision and deep expertise have led us to this moment. The Veteran Fund community played a significant role in supporting the team at Lonestar, investing in and helping close their Seed and Pre-Series A rounds. According to Stott, “The Veteran Fund has been truly amazing to work with. They have put so much energy and focus into our mission, our team, and our success.”

Nearly 250 years ago, the American people declared their independence based on the principles of liberty, individual rights, and free markets. In that spirit, The Veteran Fund has planted the flag for the next generation of liberty-minded founders and investors who are building the frontier of American innovation to create an era of unprecedented prosperity for all humankind.

We dedicate our small part of the moon landing to those who believe a handful of mindful individuals can unite together to change the world.

We ask you to stand with us by sharing this update with anyone in your network aligned with our mission to advance America through venture capital.

Additionally, please join us for “Moonshot to Moon Landing: A Conversation with Chris Stott, CEO of Lonestar,” a global event on April 1st at 10 AM Pacific, which will be broadcast across 200 cities through our global network.

This is just the beginning of our journey together and we are incredibly grateful to have you alongside us.

- Ryan, Mike, Justin, and Lisa

The Veteran Fund

Mike Sherbakov 10/13/23 Mike Sherbakov 10/13/23

The Veteran Fund Update: Q3 2023

As our country and allies continue to navigate unprecedented global turmoil, we remain steadfast in our mission to protect America through venture capital.

The unfolding events in Israel, including US-citizen casualties and hostages, is a heart-wrenching reminder that the complexion of global conflict continues to evolve. As such, the importance of proactively supporting our warfighters and national defense communities with premier technology is critical.

Despite these challenges, we believe the future of our country remains bright as we serve the leaders of tomorrow, building companies and technologies that will positively impact the world.

As we sprint towards the end of 2023, we are excited to welcome a new portfolio company, introduce our featured Limited Partner, highlight our participation in several high-profile events, and share portfolio company updates.

Let’s go!

🚀 New Investment

We are proud to welcome Haiku to The Veteran Fund portfolio! Led by accomplished founder and Navy SEAL, Eric Basu, Haiku is transforming cybersecurity training for businesses and individuals by teaching real-world cybersecurity skills through a gamified learning platform.

Developed in partnership with the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Haiku has unlocked a fast and effective cybersecurity training process that helps facilitate job opportunities across various demographics. Haiku’s impressive early traction includes over 37,000 users, 100,000 YouTube followers, and several Fortune 500 companies and major universities as customers. Haiku is racking up awards, one award for Cybersecurity Stewardship and another Fast Company award, as it closed its seed capital round in September 2023.

The battlefield of the future is digital, yet there is an alarming shortage of cybersecurity professionals according to the latest studies showing 700,000 unfilled CS jobs in the United States. Haiku streamlines the creation of new cybersecurity professionals who will work to protect America and our allies from online threats.

Ask: Haiku welcomes warm referrals to 1) organizations seeking to cost-efficiently level up their cybersecurity training 2) cybersecurity certifications organizations such as ISC2 to create custom training paths for their certifications and 3) K-12 education partners to teach actionable job skills to students who are passionate about gaming.

🇺🇸 Featured Limited Partner: Chris Kelly

Chris Kelly is a highly-accomplished attorney, investor, and business leader.

Chris was Facebook’s first General Counsel, Head of Global Policy and Chief Privacy Officer, helping lead the company’s unparalleled global growth.

He is a sought-after investor, advisor, and strategist who is passionate about national defense, cybersecurity, and privacy.

Chris is an owner of the Sacramento Kings and recently launched Kelly Ventures to continue supporting transformational technology companies like portfolio company Haiku.

📣 Announcements

Investor Dinner with Four Star General Stanley McChrystal

We were honored to have one of our early Limited Partners and supporters, Four Star General Stanley McChrystal, host an intimate BBQ at his home in the DC area.

To help amplify our mission, we were joined by various family offices, business leaders like Robert Kiyosaki, retired senior military officials, and several members of Congress who all share our deep commitment to protect America through venture capital.

Meaningful connections were made among our guests and we received great feedback about the importance of our mission. Thank you to General McChrystal, guests, and the new Limited Partners who have joined us after learning about our work.

$100,000 Veteran Pitch Competition

The Veteran Fund & the Founder Institute are excited to host our third annual $100,000 Veteran Pitch Competition!

Brad Feld, co-founder of Techstars, will join the event for a live interactive keynote with the audience. Join hundreds of angel investors, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs from the military community to watch the next generation of military-connected entrepreneurs pitch their startups.

Please forward this email to any veteran entrepreneur or investor who may be interested in attending the competition.

The Veteran Fund Sponsors Swim to Support SOF Community

GP Justin Nahama joined nearly 100 SEALs, special operations veterans, and representatives from national defense leaders like Anduril in swimming over 3 miles from Coronado to the USS Midway to support The Honor Foundation’s third annual Swim for SOF.

The Honor Foundation is the world’s premier transition program for our special operators and their families. The Veteran Fund and LP Lucas Rotter helped THF raise over $400,000 for the special operations community and programs.

LP Dr. Provencher Leads Wellbeing Panel to Support Veteran Business Leaders

General Partner Justin Nahama and former head team doctor for the New England Patriots, retired Navy Captain, and LP Dr. Matt Provencher led a panel of accomplished SEALs and wellbeing leaders to discuss the future of human performance and health for business leaders.

The event was well attended and graciously hosted by O’Gara Coach at their La Jolla McLaren, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, and Lamborghini dealership.

📈 Portfolio Company Updates

Proteus Space is leading a transformative revolution in the satellite industry with novel satellite design and production advancements. Proteus uses powerful AI software to design and build ESPA-class satellites & space “buses” for commercial and government customers to help America win the new space race.

Proteus closed its $4.2M seed round and opened its first facility for Automated Satellite Design and Rapid Manufacturing

Ask: Proteus would love to meet with anyone interested in designing and building satellites and potential advisors who are subject matter experts in the following areas: a) Satellite industrial design software and architecture b) ESPA class satellite design and build c) MEO orbital aspects d) Satellite manufacturing legal and insurance aspects

Firestorm Labs has built a new category of 3D printed, fixed-wing unmanned aerial systems (UAS), which can be manufactured from base materials and deployed within 24 hours – delivering capability when and where it is needed.

Firestorm Labs was selected as part of the industry team on the $46B Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition contract to deliver next-generation munitions technologies in support of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base. Read more here.
Secured a $1.6M direct-to-phase 2 contract through AFWERX with AFSOC and the Air National Guard as customer

Ask: Firestorm is actively working with top leaders in the DoD ecosystem. Please connect The Veteran Fund to leaders in the military who should know about Firestorm’s capabilities.

Cyberspatial is a cybersecurity company who helps cyber practitioners save hundreds of hours of manual processes to quickly visualize and analyze the networks they serve, which can increase work efficiency by 10-100x.

Cyberspatial is starting two pilots with the US Space Force and US Army, to provide advanced network mapping and discovery capabilities for defensive cyber operations.

Cyberspatial is working on several promising commercial enterprise deals in the OT security and critical infrastructure space.

Ask: Please forward this information to any cyber practitioner in your network who may be interested in an enterprise pilot.

Lonestar is a space tech company that is building data centers and communication infrastructure on the lunar surface.

The "Independence Mission” to the moon scheduled for the week of November 15th. The “Freedom Mission” is scheduled for February 15th 2024.
The Veteran Fund is sponsoring the first document to be sent to the moon for storage; the Declaration of Independence.
Lonestar successfully closed an additional round of funding in a “Pre A” round.

Ask: Stay tuned for mission details.

Stitch3D (formerly Candelytics) is an enterprise 3D data company that delivers best-in-class 3D data analytics, workflows, and collaboration tools through its cloud-based 3D data management platform.

Completed US Air Force SBIR and STTR Phase Two R&D obligations, successfully hitting every milestone for the $1.6M award.
Launched their public beta and signed 21 organizations who are actively using their product.
Made several key hires including a 3D engineer and former lead software developer, an R&D lead for Stitch3D's mobile scanning application and senior product designer to UI/UX across web and mobile platforms.
Selected as 1) recipient for this year's MassVentures SBIR START "Stage 1" $100K award and 2) NSA cybersecurity services program which will help bolster their data security and system infrastructure.

Ask: Intros to police or other law enforcement officers. Law enforcement can benefit greatly from 3D digital scanning (traffic accident, crime scene documentation, building inspection, etc) and the team is always looking for introductions to surveyors as well. If any relationships come to mind, please contact: admin@stitch3d.io

Pixly is a Software as a Service (SaaS) technology platform for construction sites and facilities that leverages smart device photo collaboration and AI-enabled organizational tools to document project progress and mitigate risk from conflicts, delays, and safety issues.

Pixly is graduating the PenFed Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program (VEIP), which will help open up doors to new customers and investors. The demo day is on November 3rd in Bentonville, AR.
USC LA Coliseum is testing Pixly as a pilot customer for facilities management.
Pixly formed a new partnership with Kyocera Mobile to integrate Pixly’s solution into their rugged, built for work devices.

Ask: Pixly is seeking introductions to building owners, architects, construction companies, and facility managers to use their solution. If you have any contacts in these areas, please reply back.

Clusiv is the leading technology platform that empowers blind and partially sighted people to obtain meaningful careers through digital training and employment opportunities.

Clusiv secured four significant statewide service contracts in NV, TX, IA, and MN, unseating legacy providers within a year of launch, a pace unparalleled in government sales.
The company set a record of new student enrollments in Q3 2023, demonstrating robust growth and market acceptance.

Ask: Clusiv is putting together an upcoming impact report, that will unveil comprehensive insights into their progress and strategic advancements. We will be sharing this in the next update.

Instant Teams is the leading military spouse community and talent marketplace that leverages innovative technology and a focus on skills-based hiring to create dynamic talent and outsourcing solutions for employers and remote careers for military spouses.

Scaled and deployed a team of 75 in 3 weeks for enterprise customer, Alight
Expansion of existing enterprise customers (AFLAC and Alight) serves as a strong testimonial of value proposition
Closed two partnership deals for 12M+ with Prudential and Talkspace

Ask: Want to hire a military spouse? Join Instant Teams here.

📆 Upcoming Events

Founder Institute Veteran and Military Family Accelerator:

The next cohort of our Veteran Startup Accelerator begins February 6, 2024 with final applications due January 28th.

Interested veteran and military spouse founders can apply and join for free through our Veteran Fund scholarships. Learn more here: fi.co/veteran

USAA Pitch Competition Powered By Bunker Labs: USAA and Bunker Labs are teaming up again to support the most innovative military connected entrepreneurs. Participants will compete for cash prizes and registration is free to join the pitch competition on October 19, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Vets in Tech Gala: Join Vets in Tech on Friday, November 3, 2023, at the Marines’ Memorial Club in San Francisco to celebrate Veterans’ Day at their 8th Annual Fall Gala. The evening will include an exquisite dinner with entertainment, awards, and a live auction.
Military Influencer Conference: MIC is for leaders, entrepreneurs, content creators, creatives and brands who shape and support the military community. The conference will be held at Resorts World in Las Vegas, November 7-10, 2023.
MilVet Conference: Mark your calendars for February 8-9, 2024 in San Francisco, CA for the “must-go” to event for any founder or investor in the veteran startup ecosystem. Tickets will sell out next year, so make sure you sign up early to attend the Military Veteran Startup 2024 Conference.

In closing, we are honored to be stewards of this great community and look forward to the journey ahead.

We will continue to build this tribe, one individual at a time, and make strategic investments to safeguard our nation's future.

If this resonates with you, please forward this to someone in your network or share our one pager with anyone who is aligned with our mission.

With gratitude,

Mike, Justin, Lisa, and Ryan | The Veteran Fund

Mike Sherbakov 7/13/23 Mike Sherbakov 7/13/23

The Veteran Fund Update: Q2 2023

Independence Day holds special significance for our tribe of military veterans and families. This occasion serves as a powerful reminder of The Veteran Fund's mission and the great potential we possess when we stand united together.

Many of our nation's Founding Fathers were veterans who, anchored by courage and unwavering resolve, created the United States, whose core tenants of freedom and individual liberty have unlocked human potential on a global scale.

Emboldened by this legacy, The Veteran Fund is dedicated to building a greater society by uniting and empowering the veteran community through mindful entrepreneurship. Our ambition extends beyond driving innovation and financial returns for our partners. We are committed to upholding and propagating the foundational values and liberties of our nation, aiming to empower future generations of Americans and our allies.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In this spirit, we are honored to share an article written by one of our tribe members titled, “A New Tribe is Born.”

In our update below, we are excited to announce a new investment, highlight our participation in several high-profile events, and share portfolio company updates.

Let’s go!

🚀 New Investment

We are proud to welcome Proteus Space to The Veteran Fund portfolio! Proteus designs and builds ESPA-class satellites & space “buses” for commercial and government customers to help America win the new space race.

Using proprietary algorithms and a revolutionary new kind of additive manufacturing (3D printing) Proteus’ methodology rapidly automates a very human-intensive satellite design process that will deliver a 12:1 time reduction and a 4:1 cost reduction, rapidly producing satellites at scale.

The increasing demand to proliferate new technology into space is severely limited by the cost and build time, with buses in this product range typically taking ~3 years to design and build. Proteus has the mission to turn 36 months into 3 months.

Proteus is servicing both commercial customers and the largest customer in the world, the US Government, with a large pipeline of contracts. The $4M Round was led by Moonshots Capital, a partner of The Veteran Fund. Shout out to Craig Cummings and Kelly Perdew who have paved the way for veteran entrepreneurs and venture capitalists for over a decade.

Ask: Proteus is looking to expand its network in the DoD ecosystem. Please forward this to anyone in your network who might be interested in connecting with their team.

🇺🇸 Featured Limited Partner: Mike Fraser

Mike Fraser is a US Air Force veteran, exited founder, advisor, and the first Limited Partner in The Veteran Fund.

Mike sold his company, Refactr, to Sophos in 2021, where he is now their VP of DevSecOps. Mike’s journey as a founder was one of the reasons we started The Veteran Fund.

During the early years of his company, there was a lack of capital being allocated to military veteran founders at the earliest stages. Through his perseverance and leadership, he grew the company and secured contracts with government and commercial customers. After selling his company to Sophos, the first thing Mike did was commit to serving the veteran community as an investor.

Mike is a model of what the veteran entrepreneur community can do together, and we are lucky to have him on our team.

📣 Announcements

Angel Summit with Jason Calacanis: In June, General Partners Mike and Lisa represented The Veteran Fund at the Angel Summit in Napa, CA.

The event was an exclusive gathering of 120 hand-picked investors and VC fund managers from the U.S. and Canada. We discussed investment best practices and expanded our partnerships with other funds and LPs.

The Veteran Fund also got a shout-out on the top ranking, All-In Podcast! Watch Lisa ask a question for the live Q&A.

JP Morgan VetVC Summit: In June, Mike and Ryan represented The Veteran Fund at JP Morgan’s annual VetVC Summit in New York City.

Portfolio company, Instant Team’s CEO, Liza Rodewald, interviewed Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan, and Dan D’aniello, Chairman of The Carlyle Group as the keynote event. We also spent time catching up with our Veteran VC partners and LPs including General McChrystal.

Shout out to Sherman Williams and Emily McMahan (AIN Ventures), Tim Hsia and Brendan Aronson (Context Ventures), Derren Burrell (Veteran Ventures), Dave Tompkins (550 Capital), Sean Drake (Stony Lonesome), Dan Madden (Squadra), Stephen DiBartolomeo (Scout Ventures), Lenore Karafa (First In), and George Ploss (Netsuite Accelerator). Big thanks to the JP Morgan team for another great event: Hunter Nadler, Ashley Hawkes, Rhett Jeppson, Mark Elliot, and Silvia Kleinle.

Recently-released data validates The Veteran Fund thesis by highlighting the unprecedented amount of capital invested into U.S. defense-centric startups, including new focus from industry leaders such as A16Z and Sequoia Capital: U.S. defense tech startups secured $14.5B in VC funding in Q1 2023, setting a new quarterly record. Q1's tally helped push the total funds deployed in the five months of the year over the $17B mark, more than the sum invested in the entirety of 2019.

What happened: Funding for the industry surged despite a backdrop of VC funding decline due to the global tense political landscape, reiterating the importance of defense startups. As a result, defense startups are expected to rake in a larger share of the U.S. $886B defense budget for 2024.

Where to see the impact: Institutional VCs, such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, that previously shied away from defense startup deals have also begun investing in the sector. Sequoia made its first defense tech investment, leading a $5.7M seed round into Mach Industries. Andreessen Horowitz is the largest backer of Anduril Industries, a defense tech startup valued at $9B. Earlier this April, General Catalyst established a "global resilience" practice to back defense and intelligence startups.

📈 Portfolio Company Updates

Firestorm Labs was selected as part of the industry team on the $46B Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition contract to deliver next-generation munitions technologies. Read more here.
Secured a $1.6M direct-to-phase 2 contract through AFWERX with AFSOC and the Air National Guard as customers
Firestorm was featured in an article from our friends over at Arsenal of Tomorrow and a government customer has asked for an initial 20+ Firestorm systems to be fielded in an area of the world that is currently experiencing conflict.

Ask: Firestorm is actively developing its lobbyist strategy in DC. If you have recommendations of groups to vet, please introduce us.

Cyberspatial is starting two pilots with the US Space Force and US Army, to provide advanced network mapping and discovery capabilities for defensive cyber operations.

Cyberspatial is working on several promising commercial enterprise deals in the OT security and critical infrastructure space.
They released a new product page and new product features: http://teleseer.com

Ask: Please forward this information to any cyber practitioner in your network who may be interested in an enterprise pilot.

Lonestar is a space tech company that is building data centers and communication infrastructure on the lunar surface.

Lonestar signed a Letter of Intent with CDC Data Centers on behalf of both the Australian and New Zealand governments. The governments will be Beta Customers on the Q4 mission and exploring contracts on future missions.
Signed OMEGA as an edge processing customer
Positive meetings with the DOD and DARPA CIOs to facilitate Lonestar’s USG strategy.

Ask: Lonestar is in planning for an upcoming Series A financing. If you would like to connect with Chris Stott, Lonestar’s CEO, please reply back to this email.

Stitch3D (formerly Candelytics) is an enterprise 3D data company that delivers best-in-class 3D data analytics, workflows, and collaboration tools through its cloud-based 3D data management platform.

Completed US Air Force SBIR and STTR Phase Two R&D obligations, successfully hitting every milestone for the $1.6M award. Signed 19 organizations (32 users) to participate in a private beta.
Made several Several key hires including a 3D engineer and former lead software developer, an R&D lead for Stitch3D's mobile scanning application and senior product designer to UI/UX across web and mobile platforms.
Selected as (1) recipient for this year's MassVentures SBIR START "Stage 1" $100K award and (2) the NSA cybersecurity services program which will help bolster their data security and system infrastructure.

Ask: Stitch3D is seeking market opportunities in construction (building documentation), law enforcement (pre-incident planning and crime scene digital twin analysis), survey and engineering (3D mapping), and smart city planning.

Acquired 972 app installs and 4 new customers while creating more sales and partner opportunities.
Pixly completed the Bunker Labs Veteran In Residence (VIR) program and the PenFed Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program (VEIP) Master class opening the door to promising investment and customer opportunities.

Released new video capture feature enabling customers to capture and upload up to 15 seconds of video (with audio) with the same power of tags, comments, and conversations.

Ask: Pixly is seeking introductions to angel investors for its seed capital raise and welcomes warm connections to building owners, architects, construction companies, and facility managers.

Clusiv is the leading technology platform that empowers blind and partially sighted people to obtain meaningful careers through digital training and employment opportunities.

Clusiv’s operational efficiency and effectiveness continue to be demonstrated by its increasing quarterly growth (revenue cycle increasing by 20 percent month over month) while significantly decreasing its state sales cycle timeline.
Currently serve as vendors in 23 states, while continuing to expand its market presence and impact.

CEO, Lukas Simianer, was selected as the Texas Business Hall of Fame recipient for the 2023 Brett Wiggs Innovative Leader Award.

Ask: Clusiv anticipates launching a $2M seed series raise and welcomes warm introductions to potential investors.

Launched their “Twelve Million Plus,” mobile application, which is the first and only verified community for military spouses.
Seeking additional enterprise customers and expanding their footprint across more military installations.

Ask: Seeking additional enterprise customers and expanding their footprint across more military installations. If you’re interested in hiring a military spouse, join Instant Teams here.

📆 Upcoming Events

Founder Institute Veteran and Military Family Accelerator: The next cohort of our Veteran Startup Accelerator begins August 15th with final applications due August 6th.

Interested veteran and military spouse founders can apply and join for free through our Veteran Fund scholarships. Learn more here: fi.co/veteran

Expert Dojo and The Veteran Fund Vegas Investor Event: Join Mike, Lisa, and Expert Dojo, Southern California’s most active startup accelerator, on Friday, July 14th in Las Vegas NV for an event with investors and founders.
Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program (VEIP): Our partners at the Penfed Foundation are launching their next cohort, August 26 - 29th. VEIP exclusively supports Veteran and milspouse entrepreneurs with highly scalable, startup companies ranging from the idea stage through to Series A and beyond. At any stage, VEIP prepares founders to fundraise, and our team brings clarity to the elusive process of accessing capital. Interested Founders can apply before July 15th
Fed Supernova: Join the Veteran Fund team at Fed Supernova, August 22 - 24th in Austin, TX. We are planning to host a special happy hour event with partner, SBIR Advisors. If you plan to attend, send us an email so we can include you in the event.
MilVet Conference: Mark your calendars for Feb 8 - 9th, 2024 in San Francisco, CA for the “must-go” to event for any founder or investor in the veteran startup ecosystem. Tickets will sell out next year, so make sure you sign up early to attend the Military Veteran Startup 2024 Conference.

In closing, we are honored to be stewards of this great community and are excited to help it flourish.

We believe that mindful veteran founders are the greatest change agent to lead our world in a positive direction. There has never been a better time to be an investor backing resilient founders building meaningful companies.

If this resonates with you, please share our one pager with anyone who supports our mission.

We are excited about the path that lies ahead and appreciate your unwavering support.

With gratitude,

Mike, Ryan, Lisa, and Justin | The Veteran Fund

The Veteran Fund: Lonestar’s Successful Moon Landing with SpaceX, NASA, & Intuitive Machines

The Veteran Fund Update: Q3 2023

The Veteran Fund Update: Q2 2023

© 2025 The Veteran Fund