Arkenstone Defense launches with $35M to help startups sell to the Pentagon
Federal contracting software startup Arkenstone Defense Inc. formally launched today with $35 million in new funding to take on the compliance, security and workforce setup that keeps many commercial technology companies out of the federal market.
The company sells a managed platform that handles the back-office work a startup must complete before it can win and deliver government contracts, from payroll and benefits to personnel security, labor compliance and accreditation. More than two dozen defense technology companies already run on it.
Arkenstone is built around a professional employer organization, the entity that legally employs the cleared workforce contractors depend on. Around that, it layers payroll, insurance, Defense Contract Audit Agency compliance, facility and personnel security and the full accreditation lifecycle, packaged as a single service a company can switch on.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Peter Dixon previously co-founded Second Front Systems Inc., a software company that helps vendors ship software to the government and served as a major in the U.S. Marine Corps. Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer William Treseder has spent more than 15 years connecting Silicon Valley and the Defense Department through groups including BMNT, Hacking for Defense and the Marine Innovation Unit.
