Brandon Tseng

Brandon Tseng was one of the two middle children among four siblings and decided at age 10 that he wanted to become a Navy SEAL. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.⁠[1][2]

He served seven years in the U.S. Navy as a SEAL and Surface Warfare Officer, with deployments to Afghanistan, the Pacific theater and the Arabian Gulf. He later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.⁠[2]

While serving in Afghanistan, Tseng conceived the idea of using artificial intelligence to reduce the risks troops face in unfamiliar terrain; after returning to the United States he brought the idea to his brother Ryan Tseng, and the two launched Shield AI in San Diego in 2015, with Andrew Reiter, a robotics engineer from Draper Laboratory, as the third co-founder. Initially Ryan Tseng was chief executive officer and Brandon Tseng chief operating officer.⁠[1][3]

In a 2020 interview with ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry he said: “We ask our service members to make life-altering decisions with surprisingly little information.”⁠[1]

Shield AI’s stated mission is “to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.” Tseng is the company’s president and co-founder; the company’s website now presents it as “Shield.”⁠[3][2]

In 2021 Shield AI acquired Martin UAV, the developer of the vertical takeoff and landing V-BAT drone. That year Tseng compared China’s military to NetflixNetflixNetflix is a U.S. entertainment company that offers streaming series, films, games, and live programming, headquartered in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997, it grew from online DVD rental into an international subscription entertainment service and also runs original content, advertising, and in-person experience businesses.Open the full entry and the U.S. military to Blockbuster.⁠[4]

On February 6, 2023, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) published the video “AI & The Future of Modern Warfare” on its YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel, in which Tseng, as co-founder and president of Shield AI, spoke with Brian SchimpfBrian SchimpfBrian Schimpf is co-founder and chief executive officer of the U.S. defense technology company Anduril Industries. A Cornell University graduate, he spent nearly a decade at Palantir, where as director of engineering he led the teams that built the Foundry platform.Open the full entry, co-founder and CEO of Anduril IndustriesAnduril IndustriesAnduril Industries is a defense technology company headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, United States, co-founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey and several former Palantir and Oculus employees. It develops autonomous drones, unmanned undersea vehicles, border surveillance towers, counter-drone systems, and the Lattice command-and-control software, and builds its own large-scale weapons manufacturing facilities. As of May 2026, the company was valued at $61 billion.Open the full entry, and Adam BryAdam BryAdam Bry is an American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded the drone company Skydio with Abe Bachrach in 2014 and serves as its chief executive officer. He earlier co-founded Google[x]’s Project Wing.Open the full entry, co-founder and CEO of Skydio, about how their companies apply artificial intelligence in defense, where its use could expand, and how software companies and defense customers can best work together.⁠[5]

In October 2023 Shield AI raised $200 million in a Series F round at a company valuation of $2.7 billion; the round was co-led by the U.S. Innovation Technology Fund (USIT) and Riot Ventures, with participation from Disruptive, Snowpoint and ARK InvestARK InvestARK Invest (ARK Investment Management LLC) is a U.S. investment management firm founded by Cathie Wood in 2013, known for actively managed ETFs focused on disruptive innovation such as ARK Innovation ETF; it is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida.Open the full entry.⁠[4]

In January 2024 Tseng took part in a panel at the a16z American Dynamism Summit (AD Summit 2024) moderated by Katherine Boyle, a general partner at a16z and co-founder of its American Dynamism practice, alongside Doug Beck, director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), and Brian Schimpf, co-founder and CEO of Anduril Industries; the session was released on the a16z website and YouTube channel on March 7, 2024, as “From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation.”⁠[6][7]

The panel discussed competition between startups and large defense primes, the convergence of hardware and software in defense, and the DIU’s role in speeding the Department of Defense’s adoption of new technology; the video’s chapters include adoption of startup technology, acquisition, budgeting and contracting, cost-plus fixed-fee contracts, the Replicator program, the new threat environment, scale and readiness for modern warfare, and procurement reform.⁠[6][7]

Shield AI: Official website: https://shield.ai/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]