Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down why venture capital is pouring into autonomous defense companies, how Anduril, Shield AI, Saronic and a new generation of startups are challenging the traditional defense primes, and why expanding military budgets outside the United States could create an enormous new market.
They also discuss the growing threat Chinese open-weight AI models pose to OpenAI and Anthropic, including Kimi K3’s near-frontier performance at a fraction of the apparent cost. Could cheaper open models force the leading American AI labs to compete harder—or will Washington restrict access?
00:45 - [ tech and vc news ]
01:51 - the Iran war: will it ever end? 🛢️
03:15 - Google: first negative cash-flow quarter ever 😢
09:55 - SpaceX continues to fall 📉
12:21 - Chinese open-source AI vs. American AI 🤼♂️
16:47 - When will Anthropic go public? 📊
22:32 - most recent Chinese IPOs 🇨🇳
26:17 - massive valuation for Databricks 🤑
27:06 - Where is the IPO market headed? 🧾
31:57 - [ valuation corner: defense tech on the rise ]
32:03 - Anduril seeking $100B valuation 🛩
33:53 - why defense tech is soaring 🚀
35:37 - military-tech leaders: the new generation 🪖
38:04 - how military budgets are changing 🗃
47:49 - second takes 😂
[ links ]
[ invest = https://practicalvc.com ]
[ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ]
[ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ]
[ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ]
Thank you for watching!
#Anduril #saronic #shieldai #defensetech #venturecapital
