Exclusive: Primordial Labs raises $18 million

Follow the money: The Series A financing, announced Tuesday morning, was led by Ballistic Ventures.

• Squadra Ventures and Lockheed Martin Ventures participated.

How it works: Anura turns plain-English voice commands into action. So far, it's aboard more than a dozen crewed and uncrewed systems.

• Users can execute simple adjustments, like climbing a small drone to a higher altitude, or complex tasks, like repositioning an armored vehicle's sensors to a new point of interest.
• Neither requires memorized lines or special syntax. That reduces mental burden, especially on the front line.

What they're saying: "Warfare has changed. The battlefield has changed. Systems can't be stagnant," Ritholtz said.

• "We want soldiers that can move between platforms," he added, "and from anywhere in a human-machine-integrated formation, they should be able to interact with that machine without having to go through a training course."

Flashback: Primordial and General Dynamics Land Systems, maker of the Abrams and Stryker, in October announced a "master teaming agreement."

What's next: The startup is eyeing office space in Detroit and Huntsville, Alabama, as well as an "expansion" overseas, according to Ritholtz.

• "A lot of these platforms are used internationally," he said. "Apache is used around the world. Abrams? Used around the world, like in Taiwan."

Go deeper: Primordial Labs is translating human voices into drone commands