NEW: Warhound, a Texas defense tech startup backed by Anduril Palmer Luckey founder and Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lam, has come out of stealth with a plan to clone and gene-edit military working dogs.

NEW: Warhound, a Texas defense tech startup backed by Anduril Palmer Luckey founder and Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lam, has come out of stealth with a plan to clone and gene-edit military working dogs.

The company raised a $200 million seed round at a valuation of $1.2 billion from investors including Sequoia Capital, ARK Invest and In-Q-Tel, the CIA-backed venture arm.

Its goal is to reduce the US's dependence on Europe, which supplies more than 80% of the US military's working dogs, less than half of which complete training due to health and performance issues.

Warhound will clone top-performing Belgian Malinois, German Shepherds and Labradors using Colossal-owned Viagen, and edit genes associated with career-ending conditions such as hip dysplasia and certain types of cancer, with possible future improvements such as wolf-derived scent genes. Anduril will provide armor and vests equipped with sensors, with its role described as "on the dog, not in the dog".

Led by former Pentagon chief data officer David Spark, the company expects its first puppies in early 2027 and aims to put dogs into service around 2029.