Modernizing American Critical Systems








[ backing mission-driven engineers ]


ABOUT FDVC

Mark Scianna is the Managing Partner at Forward Deployed VC, investing in mission-driven engineers modernizing American critical systems.


As an operator, most of his experience was at Palantir, where he was a founding member of their defense team, spending 11 years as a forward deployed engineer. In that role, he deployed extensively with US and allied forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Horn of Africa, and beyond. When not deployed, he was responsible for development of Forward (basis for an 800M Army contract), Mobile (used by federal law enforcement), and Project Maven (advanced AI). Mark’s team not only developed life saving products, but also built an incredibly valuable business: revenue grew from zero to billions, and the company went public in 2020.

As a venture investor, he got started in 2010 by participating in Palantir’s Series D round, becoming the only employee to purchase preferred shares. In 2014 he began investing via Y Combinator Demo Days, and in 2018 completed their Startup Investor program.

Signature Block
 (Ryan Hoover)

12-year Track Record:

PORTFOLIO

Abatable

Carbon Offset Procurement
(Blue Bear, YC)

Adyton

Mobile Defense Tech
(Khosla, Haystack)

AmpUp

EV Charger Management
(Foothill, Powerhouse)

Biobot

Wastewater Epidemiology
(DCVC, MIT, In-Q-Tel, Anne Wojcicki)

GBatteries

Ultra-fast Charging
(Initialized, Airbus)

Govly

Government Contracting
(8VC, Pioneer Fund)

Lumineye

Wall-penetrating Radar
(Y Combinator)

Lyft

Transportation & Delivery
(Exit)

Oklo

Nuclear Micro-Reactors
(Sam Altman, 8VC, DCVC)

Paladin Drones

Drones for First Responders
(Khosla, Paul Buchheit)

Palantir

Data Insights for Operators
(Exit)

PrivateTech

Zero Trust Mobile Services
(A16Z, XYZ)

PropelAuth

User Auth for B2B
(Soma, 8-bit)

Sixfold Bio

Targeted RNA Therapies
(Cantos, TVC)

Statuspage

Status & Incident Comms
(Exit)

Zensors

AI for Operations
(In-Q-Tel, CMU)