A VC Firm Full of Former Navy SEALs Is Pumping Cash Into the High-Tech Weapons Industry
Harpoon Ventures isn’t for “nerds.” This is one of the many selling points investor Clint Brown gives for the San Diego–based defense-tech venture capital firm, which recently closed a $155 million fundraising round. Another selling point? Half of the fund’s 10 employees are former Navy SEALs, including founder and former Olympic swimmer Larsen Jensen. “There’s Andrew Couillard,” Brown says, listing another investor. “He was EOD.” When I ask what that means, Brown hesitates. “He knows how to defuse nukes,” he finally says, laughing. “My head is like, You’re not supposed to tell people that.” Then, as if to make the résumé even more improbable: “He’s fluent in Mandarin, and he’s just the whitest guy you’ve ever met.” Another partner, Jake Windle, served with the famed SEAL Task Unit Bruiser during the Iraq War’s Battle of Ramadi in 2006, alongside commander Jocko Willink and sniper Chris Kyle, whose memoir later became the film American Sniper. Today, Brown insists, their lives are considerably less cinematic, filled with surfing, working out, and time spent with their kids. “We …
