The Department of Defense recently announced its intention to disperse a $500M+ Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) targeting U.S. small businesses. According to the announcement, the fund is intended to deliver solutions that satisfy a Joint Urgent Operational Need, a major combat system deficiency, or a critical national security need across a broad range of technology areas. Each company is eligible to receive up to $3M in funding--a hefty sum for DoD small business awards--which means that 160 companies or more could be funded.
The RIF is a great opportunity for small companies to integrate their products into the defense market and obtain valuable product testing/demonstration data.
While many good small businesses will benefit from this program, AVP is not expecting a large number of new venture investment opportunities to result. Many of the RIF topics have limited commercial applications. Those topics that appear to have dual-use potential have small commercial markets.
Nevertheless, Arsenal Venture Partners intends to monitor RIF selections for potential VC-investment opportunities, and stay abreast of DoD technology priorities.
