The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50

A16Z’s Elena Berger talks with Aaron Price Wright and Connor Love about the AD50 list and why rebuilding America’s industrial base is now a national and economic priority. They argue that defense, energy, robotics, and critical materials are converging, with companies like Mariana Minerals, Hadrian, and Castilian using AI, vertical integration, and private capital to rewire physical production.

Key points

• Defense needs a broader industrial base; conflicts exposed decades of U.S. manufacturing hollowing-out.
• AI helps reconfigure physical production, but it still can’t replace human hands or process knowledge.
• Defense contracts can subsidize early CapEx, lowering costs for commercial uses like robots and hearing aids.
• Founders are building end-to-end: mine, refine, fabricate, and assemble, not just one narrow step.
• Supplier quality is improving fast; one portfolio company went from 50% PCB pass rates to 70-90%.
• Private capital is funding factories and systems earlier, shrinking the old ‘valley of death.’