Startup Screener: Young AI, Blockchain and Defense Companies

The screener collects young private companies in three technology fields: artificial intelligence, blockchain and defense including drones. It relies on official publications only. In the United States, a company that raises private capital under Regulation D files a notice within 15 days. The notice goes to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The list adds research contracts that US agencies award to small firms (SBIR). Germany has no comparable notice, so the German part lists small and medium-sized companies that receive EU funding in these fields. For companies that also hold US patents, the list shows how many.

2,895 companies, 2,623 from the United States and 272 from Germany. AI 1,334, blockchain 124, defense and drones 1,953. Sources as of: funding notices through Nov 12, 2026, US grants through Aug 27, 2026, EU grants through Nov 1, 2026.

Data note 1

What the List Shows

• Funding notice (US): the date of the latest notice and the amount sold up to that date, as stated by the company. The SEC does not verify these figures.
• Grant: SBIR awards from US agencies, EU research projects under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, and projects of the European Defence Fund. Each shows the amount for this company.
• US patents: utility patents granted over the last 52 weeks to an owner with the same legal name.
• Field and basis: what makes a company count as AI, blockchain or defense. That can be a grant topic, a patent class or the type of security. It can also be a program such as the European Defence Fund or the US Department of Defense. A field that rests on the company name alone is marked “name only”, and these cases can be hidden.

Clicking a name opens the individual records with date and amount.

Who Counts as a Startup

United States: founded within the last ten years according to the notice. Alternatively, the first SBIR award is no more than ten years old, and the latest one in a field no more than three. Funds and fund interests, partnerships and special purpose vehicles for single investments are left out. So are notices that follow a template seen in dubious filings. In both countries, names without a legal form are excluded because they often belong to a sole proprietor trading under a personal name.

Germany: small and medium-sized enterprises as defined by the EU, with a funded project in one of the three fields. The project started within the last three years. The founding year is missing because the German commercial register may only be searched one entry at a time, not systematically. Private funding rounds are not published freely anywhere in Germany.

What the List Does Not Show

The list shows past, publicly filed records. It does not rate any company, and it shows no open offerings, valuations or minimum amounts. It does not refer readers to any platform either. Whether a company is suitable for an investment cannot be read from it. Revenue, profit, valuation and the terms of a funding round appear in none of these sources. An investment in a young company can be lost entirely.

Limits of the Data

• Not every startup files a notice under Regulation D, and not every startup receives grants. The list covers only what is public.
• Amounts are self-reported as of the filing date. A later notice for the same round replaces the earlier one.
• Grants also go to established small firms, and not every project on drones or defense is about weapons.
• Matching names prove nothing. Patents are assigned only on an identical legal name, and companies with the same name in different states stay separate.
• A field taken from the company name is a weak signal. “AI” in a name does not make a company an AI company.

The patent screener shows patent counts for large listed companies.

Data note 2