Defense tech startup Anduril will let employees sell shares through a tender offer that would value the company at roughly $90 billion, a figure CNBC confirmed after Bloomberg first reported it, citing sources familiar with the matter. Participating employees can sell shares at $94.80 apiece.

According to Bloomberg, the offer opened on October 13 and closes on November 9, is capped at $1.3 billion, and is open to eligible employees in 16 countries.

The valuation marks a striking acceleration for a company still fully private. In May, Anduril closed a $5 billion funding round that doubled its valuation to $61 billion — meaning the tender price implies nearly a 50% jump in value in about five months.

The Tech Buzz notes the leap from an $8.5 billion valuation in 2022 represents more than 10x growth in four years, and says the $90 billion figure would exceed the market caps of established primes like General Dynamics ($75 billion) and Northrop Grumman ($85 billion) despite a fraction of their revenue.

Anduril's rise is grounded in contract wins rather than hype alone.

The company this month secured a U.S. Navy shipyard contract worth up to $2.9 billion, announced shortly after co-founder Palmer Luckey was named a co-director of Project Meridian, an initiative to develop and scale military capabilities that also counts SpaceX CEO Elon Musk among its members.

CNBC describes Anduril as a major winner of the U.S. defense tech boom and of President Donald Trump's plans to reindustrialize the military.

The tender structure signals that Anduril is not rushing toward an IPO.

As The Tech Buzz argues, providing employee liquidity while staying private lets the company avoid public-market scrutiny that could constrain classified government work — an approach increasingly popular among defense tech companies handling sensitive national security contracts.

Luckey is among a growing group of defense tech leaders taking advisory roles in Washington as they compete for key Department of Defense contracts, raising the company's political profile alongside its valuation.

Attention now turns to the November 9 close of the tender and to Anduril's pipeline of Pentagon work.

Founded in 2017, the company builds drones, augmented reality headsets and AI software for the U.S. and allied governments, and last month made headlines after Iran said it had captured one of its underwater vehicles.