Traysar emerges from stealth with $25M seed for autonomous subterranean defense platforms

Traysar, an Austin-based defense startup, emerged from stealth at Detroit's Reindustrialize Summit on June 16 with a $25 million seed round led by Silent Ventures, introducing autonomous platforms engineered for underground warfare and infrastructure hardening. The company was co-founded by Yadin Soffer, Asher Katz (who served in Israel's Lab for Tunnel Detection), and Gilad Adin (former Israeli military advisor), with engineering talent from SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Anduril.

Traysar is building two autonomous systems: an excavator-class robot (30-40 inches diameter) that rapidly navigates, maps, and clears contested tunnel networks from the inside out, and a rapid-burrowing platform resembling a tunnel boring machine that creates precision subterranean access points and delivers critical payloads. Co-founder Soffer noted the first system is already actively deployed in Israel, with the second undergoing munitions testing. The company sees the subterranean domain as a critical gap in U.S. defense strategy, with cited examples including 700+ miles of Hamas tunnel infrastructure in Gaza, cartel tunnels beneath U.S. borders, China's hardened underground military facilities (acknowledged in DoD 2023 report to Congress), and Iran's deeply buried nuclear bunkers.

The seed round included Lux Capital, Ora Global, and strategic angels including Steve Blank plus founders from Anduril and Erebor, alongside NeverLift VC, Mana, Impatient Ventures, New Vista, and Entree Capital. Traysar plans to deploy capital toward government sales, policy work, and team building. The investment reflects growing venture appetite for defense tech startups filling capability gaps in autonomous systems and subterranean operations—a domain previously overlooked despite DARPA's 2021 Subterranean Challenge and the U.S. Army's 2019 ATP manual on underground warfare doctrine.