ACME General Corp.

In our latest episode of Accelerate Defense, ACME General Corp.’s CEO David Bonfili speaks with Paul Scharre, Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). After serving as a U.S. Army special operations reconnaissance team leader, Paul worked in the Pentagon, where he led the Defense Department Working Group responsible for establishing the Department’s policies on weapon system autonomy with DoD Directive 3009. He is also the award-winning author of Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War and Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Tune in to hear Paul recount his recent trip to visit military innovators in Kyiv, discuss the future of weaponized autonomoy, and explain how the United States can expand its pool of elite deep tech talent. https://lnkd.in/eeF7b-hh

Along with our good friends at Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)'s NSIN - National Security Innovation Network and 8090 Industries, ACME General Corp.’s New York City office was pleased to play host last night to a capacity crowd of deep tech entrepreneurs and investors who came together on the side lines of NY Tech Week to hear from a diverse group of US government representatives from R&D-focused organizations like the US Army DEVCOM Armaments Center out of Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) out of Rome, NY, the U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory - Northeast out of Boston, MA, and the 75th U.S. Army Reserve Innovation Command and National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) from right here in New York City. Even more impressively, last night’s event came toward the end of a packed week of high quality defense tech events including a panel discussion featuring Army Futures Command Commanding General James Rainey organized by Bloomberg’s under the leadership of Beth Kroman, a happy hour sponsored by natsec-focused investors Squadra Ventures, AIN Ventures, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and a breakfast meet-up organized by the American Dynamism team at Andreessen Horowitz and Decisive Point. Collectively, these events attracted hundreds of diverse attendees and left no doubt that NYC is well on its way to re-establishing itself as the epicenter of American defense tech innovation. Our thanks to our co-hosts and all of last night’s attendees. We look forward to working with all of you to continue to build on the already impressive momentum demonstrated by the defense tech community both here in NYC as well as the broader tristate region. David Skinner, Saptarsi Bandyopadhyay, Garuth A., Peter LaMonica, Shawn Coleman, Alice Hong Kuehn, Daniel Clark, Julie Loiland, John Barrientos, Bhargav Patel, Patrick Mahaney, Caroline Still, Aleksandra Popovik, Asad Akram, Ernie Garcia Lopez, Briana Garcia, Rob Thelkeld, and Stacey Matten https://lnkd.in/dvZF2agH

ACME General Corp. is pleased to announce that it will be partnering with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)’s NSIN - National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and 8090 Industries to co-host a “Deep Tech” meet-up at our NYC office next week. On the sidelines of NY Tech Week, ACME will welcome local startups and investors to come meet with a range of governmental organizations from within America’s innovation and evaluation community. Guests will mingle with representatives from DIU/NSIN, the Army’s DEVCOM Armaments Center and Army Research Lab, the Navy’s Task Force-59, the Department of Homeland Security’s National Urban Security Technology Lab, and others. We are rapidly approaching capacity, so if you are interested in attending, please request to join at the link below as soon as possible. We will do our best to accommodate as many people as possible.  https://lu.ma/kqnnzezb

Last week, ACME’s New York office was pleased to once again host the latest quarterly meeting of the NYC-area Dense Urban Community of Practice Assembly (CoPA) which brings together stakeholders from federal, state, and local government, industry, and academia to discuss upcoming events, exercises, and topics of common interest in a collaborative open forum. As NYC’s national security technology ecosystem continues to expand, the Dense Urban COPA and similar gatherings help to connect diverse stakeholders concerned with the unique challenges associated with operating in dense urban environments and facilitate the sharing of public information in a way that accrues to the benefit of all. National Center for Urban Operations

Two weeks ago, ACME General Corp. and the National Center for Urban Operations (NCUO) welcomed public safety, national security, and private sector experts to discuss modern super-surface, surface, and subsurface operations in dense urban and subterranean environments. As a segment of the latest iteration of NCUO's Dense Urban & Subterranean Targeting Operations Course (DUSTOC), US Army Special Operations Forces met with other public and private stakeholders to discuss how new technologies can enhance the capabilities of our nation’s subterranean operators. As a center of innovation and a complex urban landscape, New York City is the ideal sandbox to develop and test solutions for future urban and subterranean missions. ACME is excited to help leverage New York City to educate and equip dense urban and subterranean operators for our most challenging operational environments.

Last week, ACME was pleased to host the first ‘pre-launch’ event for the newly rebooted New York City chapter of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum (DEF). Our New York office welcomed investors, government stakeholders, and other innovators to listen to DEF Agora NYC Director Grant Fox share his vision for the chapter and to hear from noted strategist and defense innovation disruptor, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Clint Hinote. Prior to his recent retirement, Lt. Gen. Hinote served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy, Integration, and Requirements for the US Air Force where he was responsible for developing future Air Force strategy and concepts and overseeing associated analyses. At the event, Lt. Gen. Hinote discussed New York City’s storied history as a national epicenter for defense innovation, and the need for organizations like DEF to reinvigorate that tradition. Here at ACME, we couldn’t agree more.

Our thanks to J2 Ventures’ Alexander Harstrick, Insight Partners’ Nick Sinai, and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)’s Colonel Aneel Alvares for joining a panel moderated by ACME General Corp. CEO David Bonfili this weekend at the Harvard Undergraduate Venture Capital Group's 2024 Entrepreneurship Summit in Boston. From the conference’s main stage, panelists gave a clear eyed but optimistic view of opportunities and challenges in defense tech investing and, more importantly, made the case for why a new generation of defense tech VCs should be particularly excited about entering the field during a period of such rapid (and largely promising) change. Nick Apostolicas, Jack Canavan

In the latest episode of Accelerate Defense, ACME General Corp. Co-Founder and CEO David Bonfili sits down with Craig Cummings, co-founder and general partner at Moonshots Capital, a seed stage venture capital firm that was an early backer of gov- and defense-tech start-ups like ID.me and Red 6. A former Army intelligence officer, Craig also serves as the Director of Military and Veterans Affairs for Capital Factory in Austin, Texas. Tune in to hear Craig discuss some of the opportunities and challenges involved in investing in companies with a national security focus and why he and his co-founder, Kelly Perdew, are excited about the future of the defense tech space. https://lnkd.in/ebTtFukw Blake Hall, DANIEL ROBINSON, Ghostdog, Sean Lane, Carlton "Bubba" Fox, 8VC, Alex Moore, Shield Capital, David Rothzeid, Cerberus Capital Management, Joshua Baer

And now for something completely different… From helping our clients improve the security and resilience critical supply chains to assisting them in developing innovative solutions to their most pressing operational challenges, here at ACME, we’re laser focused on the role of technology in improving national security outcomes. But, like all national security professionals, we also understand that security is ultimately as much a function of development as it is of defense. That’s why we were particularly pleased to be able to host our good friends at Rivet this week in our New York City office for a local ‘MeetRIVET" event aimed at raising awareness of their groundbreaking new initiative to leverage the purpose-driven consumer spending of global youth to help fund young change-makers around the world. A 501(c)3, RIVET serves as a connector, matching big global brands that partner with RIVET and share a portion of the profit of co-branded products with the existing infrastructure of global NGOs to create a steady stream of sustainable funding and scalable impact in the form of micro-grants to young innovators and entrepreneurs. "Think of us as a mash-up between Bono's (RED) campaign and a microfinance platform like Kiva,” explained RIVET founder and CEO Eric Dawson. "We bring together two time-tested models - cause-related marketing and micro-finance - in partnership with a generation that is hungry to act and behind a unique and resonant brand message.” Since its inception two years ago, RIVET has already funded more than 1,000 youth-led projects in 66 countries worldwide and they’re just getting started. We encourage you to learn more at rivet.org. David Bonfili, Josh Moskowitz, Vanessa Liu

The Manhattan Project was called the Manhattan Project for a reason. Last month, ACME’s CEO, David Bonfili, was pleased to join other local stakeholders for a discussion led by New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President & CEO Andrew Kimball on what it would take to help return New York to its historic place at the center of America’s defense innovation ecosystem. Manhattan features the country’s greatest density of talent and capital, and its sophisticated infrastructure is well-suited to serve as a living laboratory for experimentation and education in the field of dense urban and subterranean operations, particularly in areas where the needs of homeland security professionals and first responders align. Centrally located among regional government innovation centers like the Army DEVCOM Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, the Air Force Research Lab in Rome, New York, the Marine Innovation Unit in Newburgh, New York, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York City is singularly positioned to serve as the East Coast center of gravity for national security innovation. Innovative defense startups and capital providers have long recognized the value of being in New York City; now they need help to scale their efforts. That’s why ACME is so excited to see local, state, and federal officials start to step up to unlock the potential of our city’s defense-oriented companies and investors. We believe that with effective governmental collaboration, New York’s defense professionals will become the next great engine of economic growth for the entire region. Our thanks to Andrew Kimball for leading such an important discussion and to the NYCEDC’s Director of Business Development (and Army reservist) Daniel Clark for bringing us all together.