We’re excited to announce that Work-Bench led Paratus’ $2.5M pre-seed round alongside Bling Capital, Teamworthy Ventures, and a group of defense and startup angels.
From our very first conversation with the Paratus team, we were struck by the scale of their vision and how they wanted to fundamentally rethink military workflows and help usher in a new era of generating defense readiness. The team’s ability to navigate the complexities of defense procurement while approaching a historically overlooked category with fresh, innovative thinking was nothing short of inspiring.
Military operations are high-stakes and highly coordinated, but the systems behind them? Not so much.
Today, over 3 million U.S. service members are tasked with meeting compliance requirements across areas like weapons training and medical screening. Yet, much of this still depends on outdated, disconnected systems. The result? Inefficient processes, excessive admin work, and critical gaps in visibility. All of which compound and ultimately limit a soldier's chances of being deployed on missions.
Paratus is rethinking “readiness” for military personnel that can’t afford to be unprepared. Its AI-native platform streamlines and automates critical readiness workflows from firearms qualification and gas mask checks to immunizations, mental health screenings, and beyond. Paratus’ leadership dashboard provides commanders with granular insights about which troops are ready to be deployed and cuts admin time by 90%. It’s a bold vision for how mission-critical teams should operate, with the same kind of intuitive, modern tools many of us take for granted.
The team brings early GTM hustle and a deep empathy for the friction these units face, and they’re already earning trust from some of the military’s highest tempo units. Enterprise sales is hard. Selling into defense is even harder - and why we’ve been both impressed and energized to partner with Luke Sommer, Roberto Medrano, and Stuart Baker as they redefine work management for frontline service members.
Congratulations to the entire team!
Paratus is growing their team in SF and actively hiring founding engineers. If you know someone who’s passionate about this shared mission, send them over to Paratus.
A team that swags together, stays together
