Ben Lamm sells Hypergiant Industries to Dallas private equity firm Trive Capital

Ben Lamm, the Dallas entrepreneur using gene editing to resurrect the woolly mammoth, is selling off his military-focused artificial intelligence company Hypergiant Industries to a local private investment firm.

Hypergiant, which has spent the last five years trying to bring AI to the defense sector with a data visualization software to make real-time, computer-aided recommendations, will move into the hands of Trive Capital, a Dallas-based private equity firm with a large portfolio of defense-focused companies.

Trive has more than $4 billion in assets and plans to pair Hypergiant with Forward Slope Inc., another military software company that the firm bought into in November. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Hypergiant’s signature product is its CommandCenter geospatial mapping and AI recommendation system designed “to bolster our national security against near-peer adversaries who will soon be utilizing AI-powered hyper-connected systems themselves,” according to the company’s website.

Lamm started Hypergiant Industries five years ago, after selling his previous companies in mobile software development and immersive gaming for undisclosed, but surely handsome, amounts.

It never gets easier seeing off a company, said Lamm, founder and former CEO. But it’s the natural evolution. As an entrepreneur, he said his role is to build out the right team and product for the mission. That is something he was able to accomplish by bringing on Mike Betzer in 2021 as the company’s CEO.

“I don’t look at it as me losing my brainchild, I think it’s really just letting the kids go to college,” Lamm said.

Hypergiant and Trive make a good match, Betzer said, as both are focused on investing in the future of AI-enabled technological solutions to secure America’s defenses.

Its unique capabilities put Hypergiant at the leading edge of information technologies for mission-critical defense priorities, said David Stinnett, a partner at Trive.

“In an increasingly complex battlespace, Hypergiant is capable of rapidly delivering actionable insights to the warfighter,” Stinnett said.

The Dallas private equity firm plans to support Betzer and the company in its next chapter of growth.

Prospective partners have been knocking at Hypergiant’s door starting as early as two weeks after the startup launched, Lamm said. But they were waiting for the right fit. Betzer said he’s excited about a partnership with Trive as the firm clearly understands the defense sector.

“I think we have the model that is going to protect the future of America and America’s allies,” Betzer said. “That’s all we care about.”

Space, defense and American critical infrastructure all face similar challenges, Betzer said, and need AI to make quick and informed decisions.

Hypergiant’s approach is to take government-funded projects, where they’re building secure, battle-ready solutions and bring that technology to the private sector to create mission-specific customizations.

While the primary thrust of the company’s projects is around defense and critical infrastructure, they’ve also used algae to reduce carbon emissions from office buildings and created an augmented reality helmet.

Some of Hypergiant’s clients include the Air Force, the U.S. Space Force, Boeing, Homeland Security and NASA.

The acquisition comes after Hypergiant extended a $61 million contract with the Air Force around its command and control platform.

While Betzer jokes there’s no one crazier than Lamm, whose current undertaking at startup Colossal Biosciences is de-extinction, Betzer credits Lamm’s ingenuity and prowess for Hypergiant’s ability to succeed.

Lamm started Hypergiant before others had occupied the space and ahead of defense AI being in fashion, Betzer said. Lamm also has more lucrative projects going, Betzer said, so Hypergiant could take the time necessary to build the notoriously slow and cash-intensive military products central to the now profitable business.

When Betzer took over, the defense company grew from 120 employees and contractors to nearly 200. Hypergiant is hiring an average of seven people a week, with more than 60 open positions. Most of which require a secret or top-secret security clearance.