#defense-tech

#defense-tech

On your first day at a new tech company, you can probably expect one thing: a hefty package of company swag waiting at your desk. This merch - hats, T-shirts, the branded Patagonia vest of Wall Street's past - usually comes in drab navy, with an embroidered sans serif logo. As defense tech has risen in favor among venture capitalists and job seekers alike, some companies are pushing the concept further, designing cheeky swag that blurs the line between marketing and meme.

If you want a pulse check on where the venture capital industry is at, consider the software supply chain security startup Chainguard, which has raised $500 million across two rounds in less than a year. "We've never had a fundraising deck," Ryan Carlson, president of Chainguard, said yesterday on the Future of Venture Capital insight exchange at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah. He added later: "We're not going to create a deck next time either."