Watchtower Labs raises $35 million for military AI logistics software

Watchtower Labs has emerged from stealth mode following a $35 million seed financing round to develop AI-native software for military logistics and operational planning. The funding round was led by Shield Capital and Conviction, with participation from Founders Fund.

The Seattle-based company aims to assist military leaders in evaluating complex operational scenarios, anticipating changing conditions, and making decisions under time pressure. The platform integrates artificial intelligence, simulation, and optimization to model hundreds of potential futures while accounting for real-world constraints such as fuel, munitions, spare parts, and transport routes.

Designed to support rather than replace human decision-makers, the software allows planners to interact using plain-language questions and surfaces the assumptions and tradeoffs behind each scenario to avoid “black-box” planning. Watchtower Labs was incubated within Shield Capital and was co-founded by Akhil Iyer, Souren Aghajanyan, and John Morman. The company has already engaged with the Naval Postgraduate School and was selected by the Defense Innovation Unit under the Joint Sustainment Decision Tool program.