Three engineers who worked inside Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency are now turning their Washington experience into a venture-backed startup — and Silicon Valley's biggest names are writing the checks.

According to Vanity Fair, the former DOGE staffers are raising $130 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Sequoia Capital, along with others. The startup's stated mission is to use artificial intelligence to secure government systems.

The fundraise is striking both for its scale and its pedigree. A16z and Sequoia are two of the most powerful venture firms in the world, and a $130 million raise puts this company in the upper tier of AI security startups before it has even publicly launched.

The founders were among Musk's earliest DOGE recruits — young technologists who were granted sweeping access to federal agencies in early 2025. Their time in government was deeply divisive. Vanity Fair described them as engineers "who wreaked havoc on Washington," a characterization that reflects widespread criticism that the group moved recklessly through sensitive government infrastructure.

Now, that same insider access appears to be the core of their investor pitch: we saw the vulnerabilities firsthand, and we can build the AI tools to close them.

The story sits at an uncomfortable intersection of public service and private profit — raising pointed questions about whether former government officials should be allowed to monetize access gained at taxpayer expense, and whether venture-backed firms are the right stewards of federal cybersecurity.

The answer investors are betting on is yes, and if they're right, this startup could reshape how Washington defends its most critical systems.