Ben Lamm and Palmer Luckey back Warhound, a startup for genetically engineered military dogs

Ben Lamm, the founder of Colossal Biosciences, has teamed up with Palmer Luckey’s Anduril network on a stealth startup called Warhound that aims to genetically engineer and clone military service dogs, according to a Forbes report published Oct. 22, 2026. The company is working on dogs intended for military tasks such as bomb detection and search-and-rescue.

What Warhound is trying to build

Warhound is focused on combining cloning and gene editing to produce working dogs with traits that could make them better suited to military service, according to the report. The company’s goal is to reduce training failures and improve performance in roles where dogs are already used by the military.

The report says the startup has begun biobanking initial cell lines and is starting gene-editing work aimed at desirable traits. Its first dogs are expected to be produced in the coming months, with the first deployed dog anticipated in about two years.

Who is involved

According to the report, Lamm is both a founder and major backer of Warhound, and he sits on the board while also holding a stake in the company. Dave Spirk, a former Palantir senior adviser and former Defense Department chief data officer, is the company’s chief executive.

Luckey is described as a strategic collaborator rather than an equity owner or board member. The report says Anduril is contributing hardware integrations, including canine-friendly technology such as an Eagle Eye mixed-reality helmet.

Money and investors

The report says Warhound has raised about $200 million and is valued at around $1.2 billion. Its investors reportedly include:

• Sequoia, which led the round, according to the report
• In-Q-Tel
• ARK Invest
• Franklin Templeton
• 8VC
• USIT
• Bob Nelsen
• Breyer Capital
• CAZ Investments
• Neogenesis
• Builders VC
• Lux Capital

The company had been operating in stealth before the Forbes report made it public.

Why the project matters

Military working dogs have long been part of U.S. defense operations, and the report notes that the U.S. Army established the K-9 Corps in the past. Warhound is betting that cloning, gene editing and specialized hardware could create animals that are more effective in the field than dogs selected and trained through conventional methods.

For ordinary readers, the story shows how advances in biotechnology and defense technology are increasingly overlapping. The reported effort raises a broader question about how far companies will go in using genetic tools to redesign animals for specialized human purposes.

Source: Amy Feldman