JPMorgan Chase has made $5 billion in startup investments in the first year of its U.S. security and resiliency initiative, CNBC reported on 19 October 2026, “halfway to its initial $10 billion goal.” The two stakes CNBC names are Hadrian, which builds automated factories for aerospace and defense firms, and Castelion, which is developing low-cost hypersonic missiles. Co-president Doug Petno told CNBC the bank may expand the program beyond that initial amount.
As we read it, one of the two disclosed names is a manufacturer whose pitch is factories run largely by machines. CNBC reports that a California factory run by Hadrian has 10 robots for every human employee, according to the startup’s founder.
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The key insight: As we read it, the bank’s first disclosed stakes are in hardware that has to be built in the US: one company making factory parts with machines doing most of the work, one making missiles. CNBC reports that most of the $5 billion is still undisclosed, so the two names are a sample, not the portfolio.
Todd Combs, who leads the JPMorgan group in charge of making startup investments, said in a statement on Monday: “Putting more than $5 billion to work in our first year shows how many exceptional businesses are building in industries that strengthen critical supply chains.” He also said: “Our approach is to find generational companies and partner with them for the long term.”
CNBC reports that most of the investments “have yet to be disclosed”. Separately, it says, the bank has financed and facilitated more than $230 billion in transactions in the initiative’s first year, part of a broader goal to support $1.5 trillion in activity over a decade.
The two startups CNBC names among JPMorgan’s $5 billion of first-year Security and Resiliency Initiative investments, and the bank’s role in each round. Stake sizes are not disclosed. Source: CNBC, 19 October 2026; the robots-per-employee figure is Hadrian’s founder’s, as CNBC cites it.
CNBC’s own post of its 19 October report on JPMorgan’s first $5 billion of startup investments under the security and resiliency initiative, headlined around robot factories and hypersonic missiles. It is the report this piece is built on; as we read it, the two named stakes (Hadrian and Castelion) are a small, disclosed slice of a mostly undisclosed $5 billion.
The Two Named Stakes
Hadrian. In August, the bank helped lead a $1.4 billion funding round in Hadrian, CNBC reports, which “builds automated factories that make parts for the defense, aerospace and maritime sectors.” CNBC cites the startup’s founder for the figure of 10 robots for every human employee at a California factory.
Castelion. That same month, CNBC reports, JPMorgan was also involved in a $1 billion funding round for Castelion, “whose flagship product is a relatively low-cost hypersonic missile called Blackbeard.” Castelion was founded in late 2022 by a group of former SpaceX engineers.
$5 billion of startup investments in the initiative’s first year, against an initial goal of up to $10 billion; separately, more than $230 billion financed and facilitated (CNBC, 19 October 2026; goal from JPMorganChase’s release of 13 October 2025).
What the Initiative Covers
When JPMorganChase launched the initiative on 13 October 2025, it called it “a $1.5 trillion, 10-year plan to facilitate, finance and invest in industries critical to national economic security and resiliency.” The bank said it would “make direct equity and venture capital investments of up to $10 billion”.
Two of the four areas it listed then were “Supply Chain and Advanced Manufacturing, including critical minerals, pharmaceutical precursors and robotics” and “Frontier and Strategic Technologies, including AI, cybersecurity and quantum computing”. CNBC says the scope extends beyond supply chain, defense and manufacturing to include frontier technologies and the pharmaceutical and health-tech industries.
Why the Bank Says It Is Doing This
“There’s a lot of really interesting companies that have been working to solve some of these problems,” Petno told CNBC. These “early venture-stage, advanced manufacturing companies have found ways to build these capabilities in the U.S.” rather than relying on overseas trading partners, he said.
At the launch, CEO Jamie Dimon said: “It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing—all of which are essential for our national security.”
A Change of Role for the Bank
CNBC calls billions of dollars of direct investments in nascent companies “a departure from its usual role as a lender and advisor.” It notes that the bank had moved away from taking startup stakes before the initiative and spun off its private equity business, One Equity Partners, more than a decade ago.
As we read it, the bank is now an owner as well as a lender: CNBC calls the direct investments “a departure from its usual role as a lender and advisor.”
As we read it, the pace is the news: CNBC reports $5 billion in year one against an initial $10 billion goal set for a decade, and co-president Doug Petno says the program may go beyond it.
As we read it, robotics is named in the initiative’s own scope: the 2025 release lists “Supply Chain and Advanced Manufacturing, including critical minerals, pharmaceutical precursors and robotics”.
Todd Combs, who leads JPMorgan’s startup investments, in a statement on 19 October 2026, as CNBC quotes it
“Our approach is to find generational companies and partner with them for the long term.”
Three Implications
DEFENSE-TECH STARTUPS CNBC reports the bank helped lead Hadrian’s $1.4 billion round and was involved in Castelion’s $1 billion round, both in August.
AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING Hadrian builds automated factories for defense, aerospace and maritime parts; CNBC cites its founder for 10 robots per human employee at a California factory.
OTHER BANKS AND INVESTORS CNBC reports that JPMorgan had moved away from startup stakes and spun off One Equity Partners more than a decade ago before this initiative.
The framework opens with this line: “The digital economy rests on a physical foundation that most people in that economy never see.”
As we read it, JPMorgan’s initiative is aimed at that foundation: its 2025 release lists critical minerals, robotics and advanced manufacturing among its areas. The framework was published in December 2025 and does not discuss JPMorgan or these companies.
What Is Not Established
JPMorgan has not disclosed the size of its stakes in Hadrian or Castelion, or the names of most of its other investments, according to CNBC. The $5 billion is the bank’s figure for investments made; CNBC does not give a split by company or by sector. The robots-per-employee figure is the founder’s, as CNBC cites it. Reading the disclosed stakes as a bet on automated manufacturing is our comparison, not a claim the bank makes.
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JPMorgan Chase says it put $5 billion into startups in the first year of its security and resiliency initiative, halfway to a $10 billion goal it may raise, CNBC reported on 19 October 2026. The two disclosed stakes are Hadrian, which builds automated factories, and Castelion, which develops low-cost hypersonic missiles.
A note on sourcing. This piece is based on CNBC’s report of 19 October 2026, read in full, which quotes JPMorgan co-president Doug Petno in an interview and a statement from Todd Combs, and on JPMorganChase’s own release of 13 October 2025 launching the initiative, also read in full. We could not read a JPMorgan release from 19 October 2026 ourselves; the first-year figures are attributed to CNBC.
The robots-per-employee figure is Hadrian’s founder’s, as CNBC cites it. Reading the disclosed stakes as an automation bet is our comparison. Nothing here is a forecast, and nothing here is financial or investment advice.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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