Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Wednesday said it has added another $100 million to its venture capital fund, doubling the firepower of Lockheed Martin Ventures for investments in early-stage companies that are developing advanced technologies.

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Lockheed Martin said its venture capital fund has invested in nTopology, which has developed software to create complex structures through additive and advanced manufacturing. Photo: nTopology

With the added capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures is looking to increase the pace at which it makes investments. The company said it has also made an investment in nTopology, which is developing software for advanced computer aided design for additive advanced manufacturing.

Lockheed Martin already had a supplier relationship with nTopology.

“Our investment in nTopology will bring strategic advantages in Lockheed Martin’s computational design processes and help shorten the periods between the design and manufacturing phase,” Chris Moran, the head of Lockheed Martin Ventures, said in a statement.

The company also said it an investment in the area of autonomy but didn’t disclose the firm. It said the focus on investments now is in the areas of sensor technologies, autonomy, artificial intelligence and cyber.

Lockheed Martin Ventures was stood up in 2007 and in 2016 shifted to focus on long-term strategic investments with the hiring of Moran as its chief.

“Our focus is on finding and investing in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that will grow our business and disrupt our industry,” Moran said in a statement. “We’re developing long-term strategic partnerships with companies and helping them navigate through the early stages of product development while leveraging our decades of experience working with government customers.”

Lockheed Martin said the additional $100 million for venture capital was enabled by tax reform legislation that went into effect at the start of 2018. The legislation lowered corporate tax rates.

In addition to the increase in venture capital, Lockheed Martin has said the lower tax rates will enable $200 million more in capital expenditures and research and development spending this year, $100 million in employee training and education over the next five years, $50 million toward education in science, technology, engineering and math, and a $10 million innovation prize competition.