Had Ben Van Roo’s vision been better, he might have pursued a career in the Air Force like his family. “My whole family was in the Air Force. They’re all pilots,” he explained, acknowledging that his eyesight didn’t meet the requirements.
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Instead, Van Roo has taken a Silicon Valley approach to support the military by founding Yurts, an AI integration platform designed for high-security operations. “We’re the first on a secret network for the Department of Defense,” he said. The company aims to become a primary AI-powered assistant for the DoD, alongside the Pentagon’s own AI chatbot initiative.
Yurts recently secured $40 million in Series B funding, led by XYZ Venture Capital, raising its total investment to $58.35 million. The company has contracts with the U.S. Army, Air Force, Department of Energy, and a $16 million deal with U.S. Special Operations Command.
Van Roo’s background is steeped in military and analytical expertise. Coming from a family with deep Air Force ties, he also worked for the RAND Corporation, where he conducted research on military supply chain issues in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. “I was just a nerd working on projects for different parts of the DoD,” he joked.
He later delved into machine learning at Chegg and defense-focused AI at Primer.ai. By 2017, Van Roo recognized the potential of enterprise AI and the need to adapt it for older systems. “These models will keep improving, but someone needs to figure out how to securely deploy them to tens of thousands of users,” he noted.
In August 2022, Van Roo co-founded Yurts with former Meta engineer Jason Schnitzer and research scientist Guruprasad Raghavan. The company now employs 50 people, a quarter of whom hold security clearances. Yurts’ platform helps with tasks like extracting information from outdated reports and brainstorming military technology applications.
Despite its achievements, Yurts faces competition from other defense-focused AI firms, including Ask Sage and Primer.ai. Still, Van Roo remains optimistic about the future of enterprise-ready AI. “We’re only scratching the surface,” he said, predicting significant advancements in AI models over the next decade. However, his focus remains on unlocking AI’s full value for enterprises.
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