EdgeRunner Secures $17.5 Million in Funding to Advance Air-Gapped, On-Device AI for Military Applications
Series A funding will advance the development of specialized AI agents tailored for military applications.
EdgeRunner AI, a Seattle-based startup developing technology to assist military personnel with generative AI, has announced the completion of a $12 million Series A funding round. This follows a $5.5 million seed round secured less than a year ago.
The company's technology operates entirely on-device, eliminating the need for an internet connection, and is specifically tailored for various military roles such as logistics and maintenance. EdgeRunner’s AI agents are trained based on military doctrine, powered by multiple open-source large language models (LLMs), and designed to reduce latency, eliminate cloud costs, and protect data privacy. Central to EdgeRunner’s approach is their technical capability to compress large models and run them efficiently on widely available hardware, including Intel chips. EdgeRunner’s software allows users to query questions in natural language.
EdgeRunner CEO and co-founder Tyler Xuan Saltsman served eight years in the Army as an officer and logistician before joining Amazon Web Services and Stability AI, where he led supercompute operations. Co-founder and COO Colton Malkerson was head of enterprise sales at Stability AI. He also worked at AWS and within the U.S. government. The company’s backers include Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group, Four Rivers Group, HP Tech Ventures, and Alumni Ventures. Madrona Managing Director, Matt McIlwain, has joined EdgeRunner’s board. “This isn’t a generic AI platform searching for a use case. It’s domain-specific, highly intentional, and built to deliver value under the most difficult conditions,” McIlwain stated in a blog post.
The 21-person company has signed a research and development agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory and was recently designated as an “Awardable” vendor for the Department of Defense. It is also collaborating with the Rhode Island and Connecticut National Guards and has entered into a new partnership with government software firm Second Front. EdgeRunner was named to CB Insights’ AI 100 list of top AI startups and featured at Intel Vision.
EdgeRunner is currently focused on military applications but has indicated a broader vision. “We’re building the J.A.R.V.I.S. to your Ironman, but we’re starting with the war fighters first, because they need it,” Xuan Saltsman stated.