Vannevar

Vannevar Labs is a defense technology company that develops AI and machine learning software for U.S. national security, defense and intelligence customers. Its flagship product, Decrypt, is a foreign-text workflow platform that helps intelligence officers and other public servants organize and search large volumes of battlefield information, translate foreign-language material, surface patterns and insights, and identify and respond to foreign actors. Decrypt launched in January 2021 and, as of the company's January 2023 Series B announcement, had been deployed across 15 government agencies and was in use at more than 15 military bases for tasks such as processing battlefield information and countering adversary malign activity. Two additional products in new mission areas were launched in late 2022, and the company has said its portfolio could eventually expand to nine or ten offerings.

The company frames its technology around a "sense, decide, act" model: collecting novel data from hard-to-access domains, transforming it into insights, and enabling operational, largely non-kinetic effects. Later descriptions characterize the company as building agentic AI systems for national security, spanning digital targeting and decision-advantage tools across mission areas including Indo-Pacific deterrence, homeland security and statecraft, with stated capability across computer vision, natural language processing and passive radio-frequency sensing. Reported platform figures include support for data collection and translation across 83 languages and 204 countries, billions of historical data points drawn from more than 22,000 sources, over 1,200 active government users, and deployment in more than 65 DoD and U.S. government missions.

The company is named after Vannevar Bush, the American engineer and science administrator involved in the Manhattan Project and the creation of the National Science Foundation. Its team combines former operators and intelligence analysts with engineers and product staff from the technology industry.

Founding story

Vannevar Labs was founded in 2019 (Contrary Research dates the founding to April 2019) by Brett Granberg (CEO) and Nini Hamrick (President), who met while pursuing MBAs at Stanford Graduate School of Business from 2018 to 2020 and identified a gap between Silicon Valley engineering and the needs of defense and intelligence agencies. Hamrick grew up near Washington, DC, graduated from Harvard University in 2011 with a history degree, and worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from 2012 to 2018 before attending business school. Granberg initially planned a mathematics PhD, then worked in defense technology strategy at McKinsey and later as an investor at In-Q-Tel, the CIA-affiliated venture fund, focusing on AI applications such as computer vision and NLP for counterterrorism.

Business model

Vannevar Labs sells software products to U.S. government defense and intelligence customers. Its founders describe a model of self-funding product development and retaining IP to avoid cost-plus contracting structures, navigating DoD funding flows, using OTA contracts and unpaid pilots to demonstrate value, and delivering complete integrated mission systems rather than discrete features. Following the 2023 Series B, a stated objective was winning the company's first multi-year program for Decrypt.

Revenue comes from software sales and contracts with U.S. government defense and intelligence customers, with annual contract value cited as a key metric ($80M in ACV in a recent year per an UpMarket summary).

Traction

Decrypt launched in January 2021 and by January 2023 had been deployed across 15 government agencies, was used at more than 15 military bases, and had reached $25M in sales/annual revenue, with the company reported to be profitable less than five years after launch. Later sources report over 1,200 active users across U.S. government agencies and deployment in more than 65 DoD and U.S. government missions. A 2025 account describes growth from $3M to $80M in revenue with continued profitability and a team of more than 200 people, having previously raised only $12M. An UpMarket summary cites $80M in ACV, 2,848% growth over three years, a third consecutive profitable year and a $1.5B valuation.

Latest developments

In August 2025 an $87M funding round was reported, with proceeds earmarked for cyber operations, economic warfare and next-generation sensing. The company announced a strategic partnership with SMX to deliver mission-specific warfighting AI agents to Combatant Commands, and appointed Eric Ransom as Chief Legal Officer. As of 2026 the company remains private; secondary-market platforms list its shares for accredited investors, and Contrary Research lists approximately 201 employees and Series B stage as of January 2026.