Palmer Luckey, founder and CEO of the American defense-technology company Anduril Industries, met with a long list of Israeli startups during his quiet visit to Israel this week.
Calcalist has learned that, during the visit and with the mediation of the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), Luckey held a series of short meetings that included presentations by 10 Israeli defense-technology startups. The meetings were organized jointly by the DDR&D and Asio, an Israeli company that has already signed an agreement with Anduril to supply components for the advanced drones developed by the U.S. firm.
Among the companies that presented to Luckey was Smart Shooter, which last week filed a prospectus for an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at a valuation of approximately NIS 700 million. The company, based in Kibbutz Yagur, was founded in 2011 by former Rafael executives Michal Mor and Avshalom Ehrlich. It develops, manufactures and markets smart electro-optical fire-control systems for firearms and robotic platforms, designed to enable precise shooting at long range. According to the company, its systems significantly improve accuracy against stationary and moving targets in complex combat environments.
Another company introduced to Luckey was Kela, founded by Hamutal Meridor, who previously led the operations of Palantir in Israel. Also presenting was Oz, a secretive Israeli defense-tech company developing systems designed to prevent friendly fire.
Other companies that presented included Skana Robotics, Regulus, Magnus Metal, eyesAtop and AriEV.
The visit, which was kept confidential, was organized by Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner of Lux Capital and one of Anduril’s early investors. During the trip, Luckey also met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Luckey founded Anduril in 2017. The company develops autonomous drones and advanced defense systems. According to U.S. media reports, Anduril is currently in the process of raising up to $8 billion at a valuation of approximately $60 billion.
Before founding Anduril, Luckey sold virtual reality company Oculus to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion.
Industry estimates suggest that Luckey is exploring potential partnerships and possible acquisitions among Israeli defense companies.
His visit comes amid growing interest from foreign investment funds and defense companies in Israel’s defense sector since October 2023. Lux Capital, for example, began investing in Israel only after the outbreak of the war.
In an exclusive 2025 interview with Calcalist, Wolfe said: “The whole world sees Israel fighting an existential war when the whole world is against it, but it was precisely during this period that Israel became more than ever the envy of the world, and especially of the security establishment. Everyone saw what the Iron Dome was doing, the Arrow system in action, and how the Iranian missile attack in April was repelled. No one said, ‘They were lucky.’ They said, ‘I want that too.’”
Earlier this week, Israeli drone developer XTEND announced that it would merge with a publicly traded Nasdaq company in a deal valuing it at approximately $1.5 billion. XTEND supplies low-cost drones to the IDF and the U.S. military.
The strong valuation reflects unusually positive investor sentiment on Wall Street toward defense companies. For example, US-listed defense group Ondas, which has acquired several Israeli defense firms and, according to Calcalist, is also interested in acquiring Aeronautics, recently rose to a market value of $4.5 billion. This comes after the company nearly faced delisting from Nasdaq in 2024 and received a going-concern warning.