Dallas-based Adyton—whose technology digitizes and automates Department of Defense operations—has announced an $11 million funding round. The round was led by Venrock with participation from Khosla Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Initialized Capital, Kindred Ventures, and Leblon Capital.

Adyton also announced a multi-year contract with U.S. Naval Aviation worth up to $7 million. That contract will see the company deploy its Adyton Operations Kit—known as AOK—to thousands of sailors on multiple U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, including the USS Stennis.

Founded in 2019 by two U.S. Army special forces veterans, JJ Wilson and James Boyd, Adyton delivers mobile-first technology that generates “net new, real-time data about personnel, equipment, and munitions from the individual-level up through the chain of command, increasing readiness, operational agility, and lethality of America’s forces.”

“America’s success in the next conflict will be defined by how quickly we can learn, adapt, and innovate relative to our rivals, and how quickly we can convert data into action,” Boyd, Adyton’s CEO, said in a statement. “In order to maintain force supremacy, we have to change the design of the systems that generate and distribute data for everyone in the armed forces, from the individual warfighter to four-star generals and admirals.”

“AOK digitizes and automates operational processes, meaning the warfighter spends less time on paperwork and more time preparing for the mission, and commanders have accurate, ground-truth data that does not exist today,” Boyd added.

Dallas Innovates first wrote about Adyton and its mission to transform the Department of Defense in 2021.

‘Built with the warfighter in mind’

Morgan Hitzig, Venrock’s lead investor in Adyton’s round, said that as a Naval officer, “I’ve seen firsthand how few technologies are built specifically with the warfighter in mind.”

“James and JJ didn’t just interview users, they were the users,” he added in a statement. “That authenticity and mission-intimacy puts Adyton in a position to build technology that gives our military a decisive tempo advantage necessary to succeed during the next conflict we hope not to fight, but must be prepared to win.”

Tech used in all U.S. Special Forces groups

Adyton said the number of active units with AOK deployed has increased more than 500% during 2024, including being in use in all Special Forces groups and over 60% of U.S. Army Brigade Combat Teams.

The tech gives troops instantaneous access to information, resources, supplies, and support platforms, the company said—generating “ground-level truth for commanders to radically improve decision velocity and accuracy.”

Sven Strohband, partner and managing director at Khosla Ventures, said Adyton’s technology “generates data about the ground-truth status of personnel and equipment that, until now, the Department of Defense has never had access to.”

By reducing hours or days of paperwork to minutes or seconds, Adyton says its AOK solution “enhances warfighters’ level of battlefield effectiveness” and is also used to provide accurate, individual-level data to command, “enabling leadership to confidently deploy troops for any mission, from kinetic action to humanitarian assistance and disaster recovery.”

“My focus is finding the right people who I believe will succeed,” Joe Montana, managing partner at Liquid 2 Ventures, said in a statement. “James and JJ have the mettle and mission-focus to radically improve how the warfighter operates. We’ve been an early supporter of Adyton, and we’re proud to reaffirm our dedication to Adyton.”

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