a16z hires Connor Love to expand defense and space investing
The former Lightspeed investor joins a16z's American Dynamism practice as defense-tech valuations climb.
By Ryan Merket ยท Published
Why it matters
Love adds military experience and reported work on Lightspeed's Anduril and Saronic investments as a16z competes for defense deals amid larger private rounds and increased federal autonomy spending.
Andreessen Horowitz has hired Connor Love from Lightspeed as a general partner focused on defense and space technology, Bloomberg reported July 20. Love joins American Dynamism alongside Katherine Boyle and Erin Price-Wright, working under David Ulevitch.
Bloomberg described Love as a military veteran and a defense and space technology investor who helped with Lightspeed investments in Anduril and Saronic.
Love joins as defense financing reaches new highs
Bloomberg's wording is narrow: Love helped with Lightspeed's Anduril and Saronic investments. Bloomberg did not report that he led either deal, originated it or held a board seat.
Anduril builds autonomous defense systems, while Saronic is an autonomous shipbuilder. Their presence in Love's reported investment history gives a16z another general partner familiar with companies selling physical systems to the US government.
A16z has organized a practice around national-interest startups
Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz founded a16z in 2009. Its American Dynamism practice invests in companies that a16z considers important to US interests, including businesses working in defense, aerospace and other government-linked sectors.
Love enters a group whose leadership structure is already defined. Bloomberg names Love, Boyle and Price-Wright as general partners operating under Ulevitch. a16z has not disclosed Love's compensation, exact start date or authority over a dedicated fund.
Defense specialists are becoming expensive talent
The hiring arrives as public budgets and private valuations give venture firms stronger incentives to compete for defense specialists. The proposed US fiscal 2026 defense budget allocated $13.4 billion to autonomy and autonomous systems across air, land and sea, according to the Defense Department budget briefing.
Private financing has climbed alongside that spending. Anduril announced a $5 billion Series H at a $61 billion valuation in May. On July 13, Helsing announced a $1.8 billion Series E at an $18 billion valuation, with Lightspeed among the participants.
Those prices put pressure on investors to distinguish companies that can win demonstrations from those that can survive contracting cycles, manufacture at scale and turn government programs into recurring revenue. Love's military service and reported work on the Anduril and Saronic investments give a16z more relevant pattern recognition as it screens startups that need to sell hardware into government programs.
The surge carries underwriting risk. Lux Capital warned in February that too many defense companies would receive funding, bubbles would form and most would fail. Lux specifically cautioned that investors were spreading capital across too many aspiring prime contractors in its fourth-quarter 2025 report.
A16z's hire adds a military veteran with experience evaluating two prominent defense startups. That background is increasingly sought after as larger rounds and federal spending draw more capital into defense technology.