Raft
Raft is a private, founder-led defense technology company building integrated data, AI, and application platforms that power AI-enabled command and control for the U.S. Department of Defense and federal agencies.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersReston, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Raft does
Raft is a private, founder-led defense technology company founded in 2018 by Shubhi Mishra and headquartered in McLean, Virginia, serving the U.S. Department of Defense and 25+ federal agencies. The company provides integrated software platforms powering AI-enabled command and control for modern warfare, with a focus on the tactical edge and disconnected, contested, or denied environments. Raft has secured direct contracts and prototype validation with major DoD components including the U.S. Army's Next Generation Command and Control program, Pacific Air Forces' 613th Air Operations Center modernization, U.S. Central Command (Desert Sentry), and U.S. Special Operations Command (GSA Phase III SBIR IDIQ).
Raft firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Raft
- Legal name
- Raft LLC
- Website
- https://teamraft.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Raft is a private, founder-led defense technology company building integrated data, AI, and application platforms that power AI-enabled command and control for the U.S. Department of Defense and federal agencies.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Raft industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Defense Command and Control Software
- NAICS
- Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Software Publishers (5132), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- LLMOps & Generative AI Platforms (Prompt/Agent Orchestration, RAG) (HDAEANAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ), AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI) (HDAEANAI)
Keywords
Where Raft is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Reston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Raft business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Raft product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Raft builds and sells software platforms for the U.S. Department of Defense and federal agencies, centered on the Raft Helix integrated tech stack that combines a federated data platform ([R]DP), an agentic AI mission system ([R]AIMS), and a secure application hosting platform ([R]AP). The company sells these platforms via government contracts and through a partner ecosystem, enabling joint force operations at the tactical edge in disconnected, contested, and DDIL environments. Specialized solutions like AOC-Anywhere, StarSage, Comms Broker, and the Rafty AI assistant are layered on top of the Helix foundation to deliver specific mission capabilities in command and control, battle management, and computer vision.
Product overview
Raft offers a platform-plus-modules architecture built around Raft's Helix, an integrated tech stack purpose-built for the edge and engineered for the demands of modern warfare. The Helix integrates three core platforms: Raft Data Platform ([R]DP), which unifies and federates data across systems and domains at all classification levels with native Cross Domain Solutions; Raft AI Mission System ([R]AIMS), which delivers agentic AI workflows and mission-ready AI capabilities including Computer Vision, GEOINT, Ontology, ATO Request, and Automated Air Battle Management; and Raft Application Platform ([R]AP), which provides secure, compliant application deployment environments from IL2 to IL6+ with STIG-compliant hosts and a Zero-Trust model. Built on this Helix foundation are specialized solutions including AOC-Anywhere (an AI-powered command and control system for the 613th Air Operations Center), StarSage (an AI battle management solution), Comms Broker (the data platform for CBC2), and Rafty (the AI partner assistant embedded in [R]AIMS). Together, these offerings power the software foundation of modern warfare for the Department of War, federal agencies, and joint force operations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Raft Data Platform: Federated data platform that unifies and synchronizes data from sensors, systems, and domains into a live operational picture for the tactical edge; branded as [R]DP.
- Raft AI Mission System
- Raft Application Platform
- Raft Helix
Products and services
- Raft Helix Raft Helix is the integrated platform-plus-modules tech stack that binds data, applications, and AI into a single seamless system purpose-built for the edge and engineered for the demands of modern warfare, combining [R]DP, [R]AIMS, and [R]AP for joint force operations.
- Raft Data Platform ([R]DP) Raft Data Platform ([R]DP) is a federated data layer that unifies and connects third-party systems and hardware across the globe, powering Joint Force operations at the edge. It features 45 microservices, native Cross Domain Solutions at all classification levels, sub-200ms processing, an AI-Ready native MLOps layer, IL6 deployment within the DoD, and security enforcement via Apache Superset visualization and Keycloak-based identity and access management.
- Raft AI Mission System ([R]AIMS) Raft AI Mission System ([R]AIMS) is an AI platform that transforms complex multi-domain data into clear, confident decisions, featuring a no-code workflow builder, multiple agentic AI plugins (Computer Vision, Mission Report, Automated Air Battle Management, ATO Request, Ontology, GEOINT), and the Rafty AI partner assistant, enabling operators to build, train, and deploy AI models without coding.
- Raft Application Platform ([R]AP) Raft Application Platform ([R]AP) simplifies secure application deployment across government networks, providing STIG-compliant hosts, a Zero-Trust model for automated security enforcement, ATO-Ready out-of-the-box deployment, DDIL resiliency, and multi-cloud support for AWS, Azure, and on-prem at IL2 to IL6+ impact levels.
- AOC-Anywhere AOC-Anywhere is a modern, AI-powered command and control system built to operate in disconnected, remote, or contested environments, enabling the 613th Air Operations Center to run real-time operations without being tied to a single base or location.
- StarSage StarSage is Raft's AI Battle Management solution providing an AI-enabled battle management assistant that understands plain speech and brevity, maintains real-time situational awareness, answers mission queries, and recommends actions based on live multi-domain data streams.
- Comms Broker Comms Broker is the data platform for CBC2 (Cross-Functional Battle Command and Control), powered by the Raft Data Platform, enabling communication and data exchange across heterogeneous systems in air-gapped battle lab environments for joint command and control operations.
- Rafty Rafty is the AI Partner for Every Mission, a conversational AI assistant embedded within Raft AI Mission System ([R]AIMS) that provides natural language interaction with mission data, agentic workflows, and AI capabilities for operators at the tactical edge.
Companies that use Raft
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles2 records
Raft technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration14 records
AI capability13 records
Raft partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Raft competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Shield AI: Shield AI delivers AI-driven autonomy for ISR and tactical operations (Hivemind) and has expanded into command-and-control and multi-agent mission systems — overlapping with Raft's AI Mission System and autonomous-agent capabilities for the DoD.
- Palantir Technologies: Palantir's Foundry and Gotham platforms are deeply embedded across DoD and IC missions for data fusion, operational analytics, and AI-driven decision support — directly comparable to Raft's Data Platform and AI Mission System. Palantir is the closest large-scale defense-AI peer competing for the same program-of-record contracts.
- Two Six Technologies: Two Six Technologies provides data analytics, cyber, and mission-focused AI for IC and DoD customers, with a comparable mid-stage defense-tech profile to Raft and overlapping C2/edge analytics capabilities.
- Anduril Industries: Anduril builds AI-enabled autonomous systems and command-and-control software (Lattice) for the DoD, with a similar defense-tech, venture-backed profile to Raft. Both target edge-AI and contested-environment mission autonomy across services.
Broad incumbents
- C3.ai: C3.ai provides an enterprise AI application platform with a defense business unit (C3 AI Defense) focused on readiness, predictive maintenance, and mission analytics — comparable as an enterprise AI platform, though broader and less DoD-specialized than Raft.
- SAIC: SAIC is a large defense IT and engineering services provider delivering mission systems, AI, and data platforms across DoD — an incumbent competitor and partner (selected alongside Raft on the TENCAP HOPE 2.0 program).
- Databricks: Databricks provides a unified data and AI platform increasingly used by DoD and federal agencies for data engineering, ML, and analytics — comparable as a data-platform incumbent whose capabilities overlap with Raft Data Platform at a broader commercial scale.
- Leidos: Leidos is a major defense and intelligence IT contractor with broad portfolio coverage in C4ISR, AI/ML, and mission data platforms — competing for many of the same DoD modernization and analytics programs as Raft.
- Booz Allen Hamilton: Booz Allen is a top-tier federal integrator delivering AI, data platforms, and digital engineering across DoD and IC — a broader incumbent competing for many of the same contracts and digital modernization programs Raft targets.
Emerging players
- Scale AI: Scale AI's Defense business delivers data labeling, AI/ML model development, and Donovan (an AI platform for defense operations) — overlapping with Raft's AI Mission System and an initial partner in the Raft Partner Program.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Raft social profiles
Digital presenceRaft compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Raft financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Raft leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles17 records
Raft subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Raft funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Raft M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Raft
What does Raft do?
Raft builds and sells software platforms for the U.S. Department of Defense and federal agencies, centered on the Raft Helix integrated tech stack that combines a federated data platform ([R]DP), an agentic AI mission system ([R]AIMS), and a secure application hosting platform ([R]AP). The company sells these platforms via government contracts and through a partner ecosystem, enabling joint force operations at the tactical edge in disconnected, contested, and DDIL environments. Specialized solutions like AOC-Anywhere, StarSage, Comms Broker, and the Rafty AI assistant are layered on top of the Helix foundation to deliver specific mission capabilities in command and control, battle management, and computer vision.
Is Raft a public or private company?
Raft is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Raft founded?
Raft was founded in 2018. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Raft based?
Raft is headquartered in Reston, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Raft's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Shield AI, Palantir Technologies, Two Six Technologies and Anduril Industries. Broad incumbents are C3.ai, SAIC, Databricks, Leidos and Booz Allen Hamilton. Scale AI is listed as an emerging player.
Does Raft have an API?
Yes. Raft Data Platform offers an SDK accessible via developer portal. The SDK is described as giving users everything they need to connect systems, transform data, and start building on the Raft Data Platform. Additional open-source SDKs and tools are available for interacting with [R]DP microservices. Developer documentation is at developer.teamraft.com.
What industry is Raft in?
Raft's product category is Defense Command and Control Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEANAD, LLMOps & Generative AI Platforms (Prompt/Agent Orchestration, RAG), with a secondary code of HDAEANAJ, AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs). Its NAICS code is 541511 and its SIC code is 7371.