A joint effort between DOD and the Small Business Administrating is investing $1.8 billion in 13 private funds to provide loans to more than 1,000 companies developing technology that can be used for defense, as Defense News reported.

The loans are the first round of funding from the Office of Strategic Capital’s Small Business Investment Company Critical Technology Initiative.

“This first group of SBICCT Initiative funds represents a consequential milestone in demonstrating the power of public-private partnerships to build enduring advantage by growing and modernizing our supply chains, strengthening our economic and national security, and benefiting the development and commercialization of critical technologies that are key drivers of our U.S. industrial base,” Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a press release.

Navy photo