How Dino Mavrookas Left 100-Hour Private Equity Weeks and Built a $9 Billion Startup
Dino Mavrookas spent five years in private equity, including at Vista Equity Partners, where 100-hour workweeks became part of a career that followed more than a decade as a Navy SEAL. He ultimately left finance to build Saronic, the autonomous defense technology company now valued at $9.25 billion.
The career pivot has turned Mavrookas into one of the more unusual founders in the current defense technology investment cycle. Saronic, founded in Austin, Texas, in 2022, raised $1.75 billion in a Series D led by Kleiner Perkins in March 2026, more than doubling its valuation from $4 billion.
From Navy SEAL to private equity
Mavrookas served as a Navy SEAL for 11 years and completed eight combat deployments before moving into finance. He later joined Vista Equity Partners, where his investment work included technology companies serving government, cybersecurity, energy and other markets.
The transition came with the demanding schedule associated with private equity. Mavrookas has described working around 100 hours a week before deciding that he wanted to return to the national-security sector as an operator rather than an investor.
His experience also gave him a combination rarely found among startup founders: military operating experience and direct exposure to institutional technology investing.
Saronic reaches $9.25 billion valuation
Mavrookas co-founded Saronic to develop autonomous vessels for the U.S. military and allied forces. The company has since expanded from smaller unmanned craft toward larger autonomous ships and industrial-scale manufacturing.
Saronic’s $1.75 billion Series D attracted both venture and traditional private-equity capital. Kleiner Perkins led the round, while Advent International, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth and BAM Elevate joined as new investors. Existing investors included Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, Franklin Templeton and others.
The official Saronic financing announcement said the capital would support additional autonomous ship classes and expansion of U.S. shipbuilding capacity.
The company’s valuation has climbed rapidly. Saronic was valued at about $1 billion following a 2024 financing, reached $4 billion in 2025 and then rose to $9.25 billion in 2026.
Private equity moves deeper into defense tech
Saronic’s investor base also reflects the increasing overlap between venture capital and traditional private equity in defense technology.
Advent International participated in the latest round as part of its commitment to deploy as much as $1 billion into next-generation defense companies. The Advent investment announcement highlighted autonomous systems and maritime manufacturing as areas of strategic interest.
PE NEWSWIRE has also tracked how private capital is moving toward technology and infrastructure-intensive investment opportunities as institutional investors look beyond conventional software businesses.
Saronic is particularly capital intensive. The company is developing larger autonomous vessels and expanding U.S. manufacturing capacity, requiring substantial investment in shipyards, supply chains and physical production alongside software and artificial intelligence.
That combination helps explain why a company founded only four years ago has been able to raise capital at a multibillion-dollar valuation.
Mavrookas’ move from private equity to Saronic therefore mirrors a broader shift in private capital. Investors that once concentrated heavily on asset-light technology businesses are increasingly financing defense companies that combine software with expensive industrial capacity.
PE NEWSWIRE has seen the same theme in private-market investment around AI and advanced technology infrastructure, where the capital required to turn technology into physical capacity is bringing venture, growth equity and traditional alternative-asset managers closer together.
For Mavrookas, the shift was more personal: after five years evaluating investments from the private-equity side, he left the industry to build the kind of technology company institutional investors are now competing to finance.
