News on Oct. 22 revealed that Warhound, a new startup focused on genetically enhancing military working dogs, had raised $200 million. The company was launched by billionaire entrepreneurs Ben Lamm, founder of Colossal Biosciences, and Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries.

The founders plan to combine the specialties of their existing companies. Lamm would use Colossal’s gene editing technology to improve the physical capabilities of working dogs, while Luckey would bring advanced military equipment from Anduril into the effort.

The announcement prompted speculation that Warhound wanted to build cybernetic superdogs. Others accused the founders of expanding an industry that should be replaced with robots, but Warhound described a more practical mission centered on rebuilding America’s supply of dogs for the military, law enforcement and first responders.

Lamm and David Spirk, who helped found Warhound and serves as chief executive, discussed the company’s plans with Military Times. Spirk left a senior position at Palantir to join the startup.

Their proposal goes beyond moving the supply chain to the United States. Warhound wants to clone top performing dogs, edit genes associated with health problems and introduce standardized training for puppies as young as two weeks old.

The concept grew from conversations between Lamm and Luckey beginning around April 2025 after the two met as guest speakers at the Moonshots Summit. “Palmer’s really excited about animals, and he knows I run both the extinction and species conservation company,” Lamm said.

According to the War Department, only about 13% of dogs trained for military service come from domestic breeders. Warhound estimates that roughly 80% are sourced overseas, primarily from Europe, and Lamm characterized those foreign breeding operations as “a little bit puppy millish.”

Warhound says supply challenges and lengthy training mean it takes roughly three years before a working dog becomes operational. More than half of procured dogs are eventually found unfit for service, requiring the government to “train roughly 200 dogs today to field 100 working animals tomorrow.”

Lamm said discussions with Luckey over the past 18 months moved from identifying the supply problem to determining how technology could address it. Anduril could supply technology and hardware, while Colossal could provide cloning and genetic engineering capabilities.

Colossal has raised more than $435 million since launching in 2021, funding work involving extinct animals and conservation of endangered species’ genetic material. The company has an approximate valuation of $10.2 billion and acquired Texas based Viagen Pets and Equine last year to expand its capabilities.

Lamm said Viagen has “very high cloning efficiencies … and Warhound will be leveraging Viagen as it relates to dog cloning, which is their core business.” In 2025, Colossal demonstrated its cloning capabilities by producing a clone of former NFL quarterback Tom Brady’s dog.

Cloning and gene editing remain distinct processes. According to the National Institutes of Health, cloning creates a genetically identical copy of an existing animal, while gene editing directly changes an organism’s DNA to alter particular characteristics.

Lamm described genetic engineering as a process of examining a genome, identifying elements that are broken, incorrect or potentially connected to health consequences, and then removing or repairing them. Scientists have used gene editing to make pigs more resistant to certain diseases, help cattle tolerate hotter environments and make fish grow faster.

The technology’s use in dogs remains limited. In August, Kindred Companion Sciences announced what it called the first genetically edited dogs, two hypoallergenic beagles created by removing a DNA sequence associated with a major dog allergen.

Lamm said he does not expect major difficulties applying the technology to working dogs, pointing to Colossal’s more complex work. He said the company made 20 edits when creating its dire wolves, including edits involving variants that had not existed in the genome for more than 12,000 years.

Warhound’s immediate task is identifying “the best of the best” dogs and breeds to place in a biobank while developing its “Warhound standard” for training. Spirk said the company is working with government organizations to identify leading animals and understand the specialized capabilities different agencies require, though he declined to identify those organizations.

Scientists would map genomes from material stored in the biobank and search for gene editing opportunities involving health, wellness and longevity before cloning begins. Training would start immediately, with experts recommending that puppies begin as early as two weeks old and become familiar with the tasks, surfaces and conditions they could encounter.

Spirk said the first Warhounds should be “coming off the line” in about two years. After determining the right balance between genetics and training, the company wants to explore whether its research could benefit the other 98 million dogs in America.