🚨 Breaking: Anduril Eyes IPO🚨

Just a few weeks ago, we looked at the emerging defense tech landscape, and the sector has a new public player on the horizon: Anduril Industries.

Anduril is the brainchild of Oculus Rift inventor and former Meta $META ( ▼ 1.51% ) staffer Palmer Luckey. After leaving Meta under less-than-ideal circumstances, he pivoted into defense tech with backing from Founders Fund and other major investors.

An easy (but imperfect) analogy is that Anduril is the “hard tech” answer to Palantir $PLTR ( ▲ 1.64% ), creating a range of next-gen tools and platforms in a startup-style environment that contrasts with lumbering defense stalwarts like Lockheed $LMT ( ▲ 3.66% ), Raytheon $RTX ( ▲ 3.34% ), and the like.

Anduril’s portfolio includes drone and anti-drone tech, low-cost cruise missiles, autonomous underwater vehicles, sensing systems, battlefield management platforms, and AI-driven analytics software.

Luckey revealed in a CNBC interview today that Anduril will “definitely […] be a publicly traded company” and management is “running [Anduril] to be the shape of a publicly traded company.”

While no planned IPO date is (publicly) set, let’s be real: an Anduril IPO is likely the second-most anticipated listing after SpaceX or Starlink, and, with Palantir’s recent success, a $100+ billion valuation is likely.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t small-cap stocks that will almost certainly enjoy some spillover effects - here are two picks to benefit from a future Anduril IPO.

VTOL Aircraft: Archer Aviation $ACHR ( ▼ 14.83% ) 

Archer partnered with Anduril in December 2024 to develop a vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft, modeled on Archer’s existing “air taxi” tech. The partnership aims to target a DoD program of record meaning that, once Archer is “in” the Federal procurement pipeline, future contract deals are much easier to snag - meaning Archer benefits from Anduril’s IPO as a partner, but also as an independent entity if management decides to pursue greater defense application programs.

Archer has long been a volatile stock, particularly due to its high burn rate despite frequent cash infusions from major investors like Stellantis $STLA ( ▼ 4.15% ). Still, the company’s recent test flight wins, coupled with an Anduril IPO, could send the VTOL stock soaring.

Battery Tech: Kraken Robotics $KRKNF ( ▲ 1.08% )

As a Canadian stock, Kraken is tradable as F-Shares for U.S. investors - but don’t let that scare you off of this top Anduril microcap collaborator.

Kraken develops two primary systems, synthetic aperture sonar and massive battery packs for underwater vehicles. The battery segment is essentially a bolt-on to their other operations, but this is what cemented their ultimate Anduril partnership.

Anduril is constructing a massive new facility in Rhode Island, with plans to produce as many as 200 autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) annually at the location within the next five years. Anduril has partnered with Kraken since ~2023, leveraging its battery tech to power a range of underwater vehicular platforms.

With 200+ AUVs in production at Rhode Island alone, and each system requiring ~$2 million worth of Kraken battery tech, Anduril’s IPO should prove a major boon to the north-of-the-border tech stock.

Note: while completely and wholly unconfirmed, rumors abound (and have for quite some time) that Anduril eventually plans to acquire Kraken, or at least spin off its battery segment. Again, unverified and nothing more than a rumor - but something to consider!