Silicon Oasis Pitch Night Showcases Arizona's Defense & Aerospace Innovation

Last week, Silicon Oasis hosted its Defense & Aerospace Edition of Silicon Oasis Pitch Night in partnership with the Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Arizona, bringing together founders, investors, operators, engineers, and innovation leaders for an evening dedicated to advancing Arizona's national security technology ecosystem.

The event featured five Arizona startups developing solutions across defense, aerospace, logistics, communications, procurement, and the commercial space industry, each presenting their vision to a room of investors, industry experts, and ecosystem leaders.

The evening opened with Jake Vander Ploeg, Founder & CEO of The Good Drone Company, who shared the company's vision for long-range cargo drones designed to transform commercial and humanitarian logistics.

JK Jensen, Founder of Gentle Weapons, followed with a presentation on AI infrastructure built for autonomous systems operating in contested and disconnected environments, helping defense organizations deploy edge AI faster and more securely.

Before intermission, Ben Smith, CEO of Space Rising, introduced the company's mission to build the operating layer of the global space economy by connecting industry intelligence, procurement opportunities, and regional ecosystems through a unified platform.

The second half featured Jonathan Chambless, Founder of LV8RLabs, who presented Arizona FedProcure, a platform designed to streamline the path from commercial innovation to Department of Defense procurement by organizing technical evidence into evaluation-ready supplier offerings.

Closing the evening, Julie Gerber, Founder & CEO of ShadowGen, showcased an ultra-low-bandwidth communications platform engineered to deliver clear voice communications in degraded and contested network environments.

Following each presentation, attendees engaged directly with founders during live Q&A sessions, fostering meaningful conversations around technology commercialization, dual-use innovation, and investment opportunities.

A special thank you to our distinguished panel of judges: Angela Aspito of the Southwest Mission Acceleration Center (SWMAC), Marc Chesley of Fuse Ventures, and Brent Blecha of Fuse Ventures. Their thoughtful questions, expertise, and feedback made the evening even more valuable for our founders.

We also extend our sincere appreciation to our co-host, the Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Arizona, for helping connect Arizona's innovators with the broader national security ecosystem. Thank you to our presenting companies, judges, attendees, volunteers, and partners for making another Silicon Oasis Pitch Night a success. Together, we're continuing to strengthen Arizona's position as one of the nation's fastest-growing hubs for defense, aerospace, and deep technology innovation.

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