an update from our ceo, kai kloepfer

I’m thrilled to announce that Biofire has raised $14 million in our Series A. This round represents a paradigm shift in how technology in this space is funded and developed.

Led by Founders Fund, Biofire's Series A is the first ever venture capital-led investment into a firearms technology company. 10X Capital, Gaingels, Will Manidis and existing investors Draper Associates, Structure Capital, Service Provider Capital, and Gavin de Becker & Associates, joined the round.

Firearms are a fixture of American life, an ownership tradition that has been woven into the fabric of our society since before the nation’s founding. At the same time, forty thousand Americans lose their lives to firearms each year, two-thirds of them to accidents and suicides. Firearms recently surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for children and teens. We can all agree that losing forty thousand people each year, especially the most vulnerable among us, is far too many.

American innovation is our engine for overcoming the nation’s greatest challenges. When private investors commit capital to fund bold approaches, entrepreneurs are empowered to develop new solutions to intractable challenges and bring them to market. This has transformed how we move, interact, learn, work, shop, and even eat. But firearm safety has remained largely untouched.

This round, and Founders Fund’s trailblazing step is a critical catalyst to bring the firearms sector into the 21st century. Known for taking the first bet on world-changing companies like SpaceX and others, Founders Fund invests in revolutionary technologies that reshape the way we interact with the world. Biofire’s deeply technical approach to a complex challenge requires outstanding partners. I am proud to join with Founders Fund and our other exceptional investors to transform this industry.

“I’m previously on record saying that Smart Gun technology is uninvestable – that it would take ‘multiple miracles’ to bring this product to market. The Biofire team has changed my mind. We need novel solutions to address firearm violence, and their technology has the potential to transform firearm safety.”

—Trae Stephens: Partner, Founders Fund

The Biofire Smart Gun^® seamlessly unlocks for the owner and automatically relocks as soon as it leaves the owner’s control, ensuring it remains secure from all others including children and teens. To achieve this, we went back to the drawing board to design a new kind of handgun starting with state-of-the-art biometrics. By empowering gun owners with cutting edge technology, we are creating a better choice when it comes to firearm safety.

We are looking forward to introducing the Smart Gun to the public in 2023. We are especially grateful to our partners in the special forces, law enforcement, and private security communities who have helped us prepare for that launch.

If you would like to be first in line to order a Smart Gun and for exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to Biofire, please sign up for our waitlist.

Creating an ultra-reliable biometric handgun is a monumental challenge - I am endlessly proud of the Biofire teams’ brilliant work to bring this product and company to life. We are actively hiring across our engineering, customer, and operations teams. If you are passionate about firearm safety and solving problems through technology, we invite you to apply!

Thank you for your support of Biofire as we continue to build a safer future.