Obviant Raises $7.1M in Funding to Scale its Data Intelligence Platform for Defense Acquisition, Contracting and Budgeting
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Obviant, the data intelligence platform transforming how industry and government leverage U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition, contracting and budgeting data today announced $7.1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Shield Capital with participation from Motivate Venture Capital, A*, New Vista Capital, Aloft Venture Capital, and Underdog Labs.
AI Enables Decision Edge for the Defense Market
Today, more than ever, with defense budgets at record highs and the defense technology sector rapidly expanding, companies and investors need real-time data on opportunities. In addition, the Department of Defense (DoD) needs real-time data to assess how effectively its budget supports its strategies and priorities. Clarity and timeliness in Pentagon acquisitions have been elusive due to data silos, legacy systems, and fragmented documentation often organized around outdated programs rather than mission need or capability.
Obviant's AI-powered platform changes that—bringing real-time transparency and context to the defense procurement ecosystem. By ingesting and unifying data from thousands of sources—such as program documents, defense budget justification books, and Congressional reports—Obviant delivers a comprehensive and coherent picture of acquisition, contracting, and budgeting information across the DoD. Further, this data can be aggregated by missions or programs such as contested logistics or Golden Dome, which highlight opportunities. Obviant combines open-source intelligence (OSINT) and customers' own data with AI-driven context and reasoning to transform defense procurement, giving customers a decisive edge in understanding and pursuing opportunities.
This investment in Obviant comes as the defense sector is rapidly expanding to include more companies supplying emerging technologies. Obviant customers already include high-growth defense startups, primes, global investment firms, defense advisory firms, think tanks, and multiple government agencies, all seeking faster and smarter ways to navigate and comprehend the $1 trillion+ U.S. defense market.
'We are at a historic inflection point for defense acquisition,' said Brendan Karp, Co-founder and CEO of Obviant. 'For the best capabilities to get to warfighters more rapidly, leaders across industry and government need real-time, actionable data—not guesswork or hand-built spreadsheets. Obviant's mission is to provide that source of truth and underlying trends, so technology, policy, and investment can finally move at the speed of relevance.'
Michael Brown, a Partner at Shield Capital and former Director of the DoD's Defense Innovation Unit said, 'Success in selling to the DoD has been difficult because there is no real-time 'single source of truth' about spending on defense mission capabilities or new technologies like resilient communications or unmanned systems. Obviant's solution unlocks better understanding of the spending on these capabilities—at any level of granularity or aggregation—to ensure better decisions.'
Obviant is already empowering defense tech firms to align capabilities with sources of funding, supplying investors with diligence-ready analysis and market sizing, and helping DoD offices visualize portfolios and streamline technology transitions. With this recent funding, Obviant will expand its team, advance the AI capabilities of its platform, and broaden its customer base—transforming how companies, investors, and government leaders make more informed decisions across the defense sector.
About Obviant
Obviant is a data intelligence platform that combines open-source intelligence (OSINT) on defense acquisition, contracting, and budgeting with customers' own data, serving as the source of truth for decision-makers. By delivering real-time, accurate, and actionable insight across Department of Defense programs, Obviant empowers technology companies, investors, and government leaders to align capabilities with mission needs.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
8 hours ago
- Fox News
TSA to roll out new security lane, benefits for military service members
FIRST ON FOX: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced changes to the airport security process that will begin to take effect at some airports on Tuesday, including a new security lane for active-duty service members and TSA Precheck discounts for the uniformed services' community. The additional security lane will be implemented at airports located close to military installations, including San Antonio, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado; El Paso, Texas; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; San Diego, California; and Seattle. There are roughly 1.13 million active-duty service members, according to a Department of Defense March report. Gold Star Families, those who have lost a family member in the line of duty, will have their TSA PreCheck enrollment fee waived. The waiver includes PreCheck through providers CLEAR, IDEMIA and Telos. Additionally, active-duty Department of Defense (DOD) service members will get $25 off the TSA Precheck fee. Active-duty service men and women and civilian DoD staff are already eligible for complimentary TSA PreCheck. "This Independence Day and beyond, TSA reaffirms its commitment to ease travel for the military community through its TSA PreCheck program, by providing it free to Gold Star families, discounting it for active-duty spouses and creating expedited lanes for service members in uniform," TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told Fox News Digital. "By expanding access, easing enrollment, and partnering with our TSA PreCheck enrollment providers and industry partners, we strive to honor those who serve and the families who stand beside them." The "Serve with Honor, Travel with Ease" initiative will be formally announced in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday ahead of what is expected to be a very busy Fourth of July travel weekend. TSA operates under the Department of Homeland Security, and was established by President George W. Bush in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to and on X @MizellPreston
Newsweek
10 hours ago
- Newsweek
Did Republicans Just Kill the Filibuster?
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Republicans are relying on rarely employed accounting methods to push Donald Trump's "one, big beautiful bill" through the Senate, and in doing so could upend established Congressional procedures surrounding the reconciliation process and the filibuster. Why It Matters The filibuster—a procedural move allowing senators to extend debates on bills indefinitely without a 60-vote majority—has long been viewed as a move to encourage bipartisanship in Congress and as a bulwark against political dominance by slim majorities in the upper chamber. Experts told Newsweek that recent moves by Republicans while trying to pass Trump's tax legislation could create new precedent surrounding the filibuster for years to come, including past the period of GOP control. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham looks out from the upper chamber, June 11, 2025. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham looks out from the upper chamber, June 11, 2025. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo What To Know Republicans are employing the reconciliation process to pass Trump's tax bill, the centerpiece of his second-term domestic agenda, allowing them to eventually advance the bill with only a majority vote rather than the 60 votes normally needed to do away with the threat of a filibuster. A central element of the bill, which the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates would add $4.2 trillion to the nation's deficit through 2034, is the extension of the tax cuts enacted during Trump's first term. Sweeping fiscal moves of this kind are traditionally restricted by the Byrd Rule, adopted in 1985, which limits the sort of policies that can be folded into bills passed through reconciliation, and forbids legislation from adding to the nation's deficit beyond 10 years. However, as reported by AP, Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel recently notified Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of the Senate Budget Committee that elements of the Big, Beautiful Bill would increase the deficit "in years after 2034." Going by this assessment, the Republican bill would violate the rule that determines what legislation can clear the Senate with a simple majority, which could force Republicans to amend significant portions of the legislation. In response to these concerns, and Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough advising that certain provisions in the bill were not budget-related and therefore in violation of Senate rules, Republicans have now argued that Trump's 2017 tax cuts should be treated as part of the fiscal "baseline" forecast, even though these have not yet been extended. Republicans have also cited Section 312 of Congressional Budget Act to argue that the final authority for determining baseline spending figures, and whether the tax portion of the bill violates Byrd, lies with Republican Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham. When approached by Newsweek for comment, a spokesperson for Senator Graham said: "Republicans do not want a $4 trillion tax hike—which is what would happen if the Democrats had their way and the 2017 tax cuts expired." They also referenced past support from Democrats for the notion that the Senate Budget Committee Chairman has the power to establish the baseline, citing former Chairman Bernie Sanders' 2022 remark that "the Budget Committee, through its Chair, makes the call on questions of numbers." Sanders is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Experts have said that this new "Byrd Bath"—as it has been referred to by some on Capitol Hill—could establish a new precedent regarding budget reconciliation and the avoidance of filibusters by those in power in the future. "The budget process established in 1974 and reinforced by rules and precedents since then was intended to allow a simple majority to pass a budget as long as the contents of a budget measure were limited to budget-related spending and tax provisions," Steve Smith, professor of politics at Arizona State University, told Newsweek. "Playing partisan games with the budget process to set aside the 10-year budget period or use it for nonbudget purposes is contrary to the plain language of the Budget Act and the Byrd rules adopted by the Senate," he added. "It is a precedent that will get repeated over and over again." Michael Ettlinger, a political adviser who previously worked with the Biden-Harris campaign, said, "If the Republican's new accounting method becomes the norm, it will be far easier to pass deficit increasing legislation in the Senate with a simple majority vote—limiting the impact of the filibuster." Ettlinger, who is currently a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), noted that nothing would then stop Democrats from employing the same precedents to bypass the filibuster in future bills. "If the Democrats reclaim the Senate they will have the opportunity to undermine the filibuster as the Republicans have done," he told Newsweek. "It's their choice." Democratic Senator Rubén Gallego, reiterated this argument, posting to X: "There is no filibuster if the Senate [Republicans] do this and when Dems take power there is no reason why we should not use reconciliation to pass immigration reform." What People Are Saying Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, in a statement released Sunday, said: "The only way for Republicans to pass this horribly destructive bill, which is based on budget math as fake as Donald Trump's tan, was to go nuclear and hide it behind a bunch of procedural jargon. We're now operating in a world where the filibuster applies to Democrats but not to Republicans, and that's simply unsustainable given the triage that'll be required whenever the Trump era finally ends." Steve Smith, professor of politics at Arizona State University, told Newsweek: "If a small Senate majority can put anything in a budget measure or ignore the ten-year budget window, then nothing is left for regular legislation that is subject to a filibuster. It represents a "get-it-while-you-can" partisanship that Republicans have adopted since [Mitch] McConnell became leader that, step-by-step, has undermined longstanding Senate norms." Republican Senator and Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, speaking on the Senate floor on Monday, said: "I'm not the first chairman to change a baseline for different reasons." "The budget Chairman, under [Section] 312, sets the baseline," Graham continued. "This has been acknowledged by Republicans and Democrats." What Happens Next? Debate over President Trump's megabill has now reached the final stages. A "vote-a-rama" on the bill—a marathon session during which lawmakers may introduce amendments to a reconciliation package—kicked off in the Senate on Monday morning. Should the bill pass a Senate vote, expected this week, it will then be sent back down to the House for approval. On Friday, Trump said that his preferred deadline of July 4 was not the "end all," but later said via Truth Social that the House of Representatives "must be ready" to send the bill to his desk by this date.
Hamilton Spectator
12 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
U.S. and Canada restart trade talks after conflict over digital services tax
OTTAWA - Canada and the United States have restarted trade talks after Prime Minister Mark Carney's government dropped Canada's digital services tax. U.S. President Donald Trump suspended negotiations with Canada over the tax on Friday. Following a phone call between Carney and Trump on Sunday, Ottawa announced that it was eliminating the tax. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Monday the U.S. would immediately restart trade talks with Canada. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office confirmed trade talks have resumed. Hassett made the comments in an interview on Fox News, adding Trump asked Canada to drop the tax at the G7 meeting in Alberta earlier this month. He said the removal of the tax means Canada and the U.S. can get back to negotiations. The tax would have applied a three per cent levy on revenue from Canadian users to large tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb. Canada's move to drop the tax came just as the first payment under the tax was about to come due. The initial payment was retroactive to 2022 and could have collectively cost American companies US$2 billion. On Monday, business groups on both sides of the border praised the government for moving to eliminate the tax, while critics accused the government of capitulating to the U.S. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Carney campaigned during the election on finding a way out from under Trump's tariffs but has nothing to show for it so far. In a social media post, Blanchet said Carney's government 'made significant compromises on defence, borders and counter-tariffs, and now it is backtracking on a widely supported measure to protect culture, still with nothing to show for it — no gains or progress for Quebec and Canada, neither on tariffs nor on trade. 'This is deeply concerning,' he said. Interim NDP Leader Don Davies also sounded off on social media, saying the decision to end the digital services tax amounts to 'pure caving in to Trump and his billionaire friends.' 'Canada is a sovereign country with the right to make our own tax laws. Abandoning fair taxation of tech giants is unacceptable appeasement,' Davies said. Davies said that, coupled with Carney's openness to Trump's 'Golden Dome' missile defence plan and his sprint to meet the new 5 per cent NATO defence spending benchmark, 'it's looking more & more like Mr. Carney had his elbows up during the pre-game skate — only to drop them once the game started.' However the Canadian Chamber of Commerce called the decision to drop the tax a 'savvy' one. 'This tax would have fallen on Canadian consumers, businesses and investors in the form of higher costs and hurt our economy at a critical time,' David Pierce, the chamber's vice-president of government relations, said in a media statement. He said ending the tax 'moves us one step closer to a renewed, reliable trade deal' with the United States. Rick Tachuk, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, said the withdrawal of the tax was a 'welcome' move by the Canadian government. 'This is a constructive decision that allows both countries to focus on strengthening their economic partnership. Businesses on both sides of the border rely on policies that support certainty, collaboration, and long-term growth,' he said in a media statement. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.
