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Reston growth equity firm closes $560M investment fund

A -based firm focused on the national security tech market has closed a $560 million .

The firm, Razor’s Edge Management, announced its fourth investment fund closed Thursday. Fund IV is its largest fundraise and had an original target of $400 million.

Razor’s Edge now manages more than $1.25 billion in assets.

Founded in 2010, the firm focuses on high-growth tech companies in the national security and adjacent markets. It will use the fund to scale companies with space, autonomy, cyber, advanced sensing, signal processing, AI-enabled systems and other aerospace and technologies.

“This fund represents a renewed commitment to our mission to ensure the U.S. and its allies maintain technological superiority in an increasingly contested world,” Peggy Styer, co-founder and managing partner of Razor’s Edge, said in a statement. “Our team is built from the national security community, and we invest with deep conviction in companies that will win on the modern battlefield.”

Razor’s Edge has completed four investments out of Fund IV so far: Dark Wolf Solutions, mPower , Expedition Technology and Quantum Leap.

The firm has current investments in Vienna-based tech company Corsha and geospatial analytics company 360, among others.

Arlington drone software firm raises $130M in Series B funding

Auterion, an -based provider of software for military drone swarms, announced this week it has raised $130 million in a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

The company states that the Series B will help scale the production of its AuterionOS platform and Nemyx systems, which enable autonomous drones to operate as coordinated swarms in combat. says its AI-enabled software aims to “transform the battlefield.”

As part of this investment round, Bessemer Partner Alex Ferrara will join Auterion’s board. Other investors in the funding round include existing investor Lakestar, which led Auterion’s first institutional round (and has invested in every round since) as well as existing investors Mosaic Ventures and Costanoa Ventures.

Of the $130 million from the latest round, $25 million is backed by the U.S. , recently rebranded by President Trump as the .

The company says Russia’s invasion of prompted the need for wartime mass production and that “a seismic shift has emerged in terms of awareness of what is required to protect America and her allies.”

Auterion believes its AI will help combatants on the battlefield deploy drone swarms on a massive scale, overwhelming defenses. Auterion says its open platform software has already been deployed in Ukraine.

“The future of warfare is software-defined, unmanned and at scale,” said Auterion Founder and CEO Lorenz Meier in a statement. “Auterion’s customers are taking the lessons from Ukraine and applying them to deploying drone swarms. Decisive advantage on the battlefield won’t be achieved by individual drones — it’ll be achieved by autonomous mass. This funding will allow us to provide Auterion’s AI-enabled swarming capabilities to democratic governments around the world who need to develop those capabilities at scale.”

The company’s AuterionOS platform unifies fleets from multiple manufacturers into a single, coordinated fabric, allowing one operator to control many autonomous vehicles simultaneously.

Auterion, which specializes in software for uncrewed vehicles, was founded in 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2024, the company relocated its headquarters to Arlington while maintaining engineering operations in Zurich and Munich. The company says it has evolved from its open-platform autopilot origins to become the operating system for autonomous mass operations.

General Dynamics Information Technology wins $1.5B contract

General Dynamics Information , a business unit of -based aerospace and contractor , announced on Thursday that it has been awarded a $1.5 billion contract to modernize the ‘s (STRATCOM) enterprise IT systems and help strengthen operational readiness.

STRATCOM oversees U.S. strategic deterrence, global strike, nuclear command and control and electromagnetic spectrum operations worldwide. Its global missions require an enterprise IT network environment that connects data and systems to national decision makers and mobile warfighters.

Under the contract, GDIT will utilize digital engineering to help reduce costs and enhance efficiency and collaboration among mission partners, integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into Stratcom’s enterprise data systems and transition the command to a new hybrid cloud environment.

GDIT will also implement advanced cyber and zero-trust solutions to protect the command’s networks and their data from cyber threats.

“Modernizing STRATCOM’s IT capabilities is critical to protecting our national security and maintaining our strategic deterrence edge,” said Brian Sheridan, GDIT’s senior vice president for defense, in a statement. “We look forward to delivering a secure, agile and resilient network that enables our warfighters to be better connected, informed and ready.”

The contract, awarded in May, covers a one-year base period and six option years.

GDIT also provides digital modernization services for the U.S. Central Command as well as technical and mission support services for the U.S. Special Operations Command.

General Dynamics has about 117,000 employees worldwide and reported $47.7 billion in 2024 revenue. It ranked No. 96 on the 2025 Fortune 1000. GDIT reported $8.75 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024 and has about 30,000 employees.

Dollar set for second straight week of gains after data shows US economic resilience

Summary

  • Dollar slips 0.1% vs , still near two-month high
  • edges up but set to snap three weeks of gains
  • Strong U.S. spending, data temper Fed cut bets
  • Dollar index falls 0.17% but on track for weekly gain

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The dollar edged lower but was still on track for the second straight week of gains against major peers on Friday after data continued to show U.S. economic resilience, which might complicate the ‘s efforts to cut .

The dollar was down 0.1% to 149.65 against the Japanese yen, on track for the fifth consecutive week of gains and trading near its highest level since August 1.

The euro was up 0.17% to $1.16845. It was on course to finish the week lower, snapping three straight weeks of gains.

US DATA TAKES STEAM OUT OF FED RATE CUT PRICING

U.S. , which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, rose 0.6% in August, slightly higher than the 0.5% estimated by economists polled by Reuters.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, which is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, rose 0.3% last month, in line with expectations, U.S. Commerce Department data showed.

“I think it’s pretty clear that stronger economic data has taken the steam out of the pricing for Fed rate cuts and that’s sort of narrowed the interest rate differential with other countries and pushed the dollar higher,” said John Velis, Americas FX and macro strategist at BNY in New York.

“We still think that hedging behavior is quite strong so we still see lots of forward selling of dollars even while the U.S. assets, particularly U.S. equities, continue to gain influence from abroad, although that’s taken a little bit of a backseat this week as well to some degree. But I think it’s fairly clear that as Fed expectations go so will the dollar go in the short term,” Velis added.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.17% to 98.33. It was still on track for the second straight week of gains.

The two-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Fed, rose 0.2 basis points to 3.666%.

Data had shown on Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product rose by an upwardly revised 3.8% from April through June, beating expectations.

The dollar was down 0.08% to 0.799 against the Swiss franc. It was still on track to finish the week higher, ending a run of six consecutive weeks of losses.

(Reporting by Chibuike OguhEditing by Mark Potter)

 

Trump slaps tariffs on drugs, furniture, trucks

Summary

  • 100% tariff on imported pharmaceutical drugs
  • 50% on and vanities
  • 30% on upholstered furniture, 25% on
  • Trump cites “national security” and support for U.S. producers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President  said Thursday that he will put import taxes of 100% on pharmaceutical drugs, 50% on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 30% on upholstered furniture and 25% on heavy trucks starting on Oct. 1.

The posts on his social media site showed that Trump’s devotion to tariffs did not end with the trade frameworks and import taxes that were launched in August, a reflection of the president’s confidence that taxes will help to reduce the government’s budget deficit while increasing domestic manufacturing.

While Trump did not provide a legal justification for the tariffs, he appeared to stretch the bounds of his role as commander-in-chief by stating on Truth Social that the taxes on imported kitchen cabinets and sofas were needed “for National Security and other reasons.”

Under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the administration launched a Section 232 investigation in April about the impacts on national security from pharmaceutical drug and truck imports. The Commerce Department launched a 232 investigation into timber and lumber in March, though it’s unclear whether the furniture tariffs stem from that.

The tariffs are another dose of uncertainty for the U.S. economy with a solid stock market but a weakening outlook for jobs and elevated . These new taxes on imports could pass through to consumers in the form of higher prices and dampen hiring, a process that economic data suggests is already underway.

“We have begun to see goods prices showing through into higher inflation,” Chair Jerome Powell warned in a recent news conference, adding that higher costs for goods account for “most” or potentially “all” of the increase in inflation levels this year.

The president has pressured Powell to resign, arguing that the Fed should cut its benchmark more aggressively because inflation is no longer a concern. Fed officials have stayed cautious on rate cuts because of the uncertainty created by tariffs.

Trump said on Truth Social that the pharmaceutical tariffs would not apply to companies that are building manufacturing plants in the United States, which he defined as either “breaking ground” or being “under construction.” It was unclear how the tariffs would apply to companies that already have factories in the U.S.

In 2024, America imported nearly $233 billion in pharmaceutical and medicinal products, according to the Census Bureau. The prospect of prices doubling for some medicines could send shock waves to voters as health care expenses, as well as the costs of Medicare and Medicaid, potentially increase.

The pharmaceutical drug announcement was shocking as Trump has previously suggested that tariffs would be phased in over time so that companies had time to build factories and relocate production. On CNBC in August, Trump said he would start by charging a “small tariff” on pharmaceuticals and raise the rate over a year or more to 150% and even 250%.

According to the White House, the threat of tariffs earlier this year contributed to many major pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, among others, to announce investments in U.S. production.

Pascal Chan, vice president for strategic policy and supply chains at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, warned that the tariffs could harm Americans’ health with “immediate price hikes, strained insurance systems, hospital shortages, and the real risk of patients rationing or foregoing essential medicines.”

The new tariffs on cabinetry could further increase the costs for homebuilders at a time when many people seeking to buy a house feel priced out by the mix of housing shortages and high . The National Association of Realtors on Thursday said there were signs of price pressures easing as sales listings increased 11.7% in August from a year ago, but the median price for an existing home was $422,600.

Trump said that foreign-made heavy trucks and parts are hurting domestic producers that need to be defended.

“Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others, will be protected from the onslaught of outside interruptions,” Trump posted.

Trump has long maintained that tariffs are the key to forcing companies to invest more in domestic factories. He has dismissed fears that importers would simply pass along much of the cost of the taxes to consumers and businesses in the form of higher prices.

His broader country-by-country tariffs relied on declaring an economic emergency based on a 1977 law, a drastic tax hike that two federal courts said exceeded Trump’s authority as president. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case in November.

The president continues to claim that inflation is no longer a challenge for the U.S. economy, despite evidence to the contrary. The consumer price index has increased 2.9% over the past 12 months, up from an annual pace of 2.3% in April, when Trump first launched a sweeping set of import taxes.

Nor is there evidence that the tariffs are creating factory jobs or more construction of manufacturing facilities. Since April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that manufacturers cut 42,000 jobs and builders have downsized by 8,000.

“There’s no inflation,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “We’re having unbelievable success.”

Still, Trump also acknowledged that his tariffs against China had hurt American farmers, who lost out on sales of soybeans. The president separately promised on Thursday to divert tariff revenues to the farmers hurt by the conflict, just as he did during his first term in 2018 and 2019 when his tariffs led to retaliation against the agricultural sector.

30-year U.S. mortgage rate edges up to 6.3%

Summary:

  • 30-year mortgage rate rises to 6.3% from 6.26%
  • 15-year fixed-rate mortgage climbs to 5.49%
  • Rates end a four-week downward trend
  • Borrowing costs still influenced by Fed policy, bond markets

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage ticked up this week, ending a four-week slide that brought down borrowing costs for homebuyers to the lowest level in nearly a year.

The rate rose to 6.3% from 6.26% last week, mortgage buyer said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.08%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their , also edged higher. The average rate rose to 5.49% from 5.41% last week. A year ago, it was 5.16%, Freddie Mac said.

are influenced by several factors, from the ‘s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and . They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield was at 4.19% in midday trading Thursday, up from 4.16% late Wednesday.

Starting in late July, mortgage rates mostly declined in the lead-up to the Federal Reserve’s widely anticipated decision last week to cut its main interest rate for the first time in a year amid growing concern over the U.S. job market.

But this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled a cautious approach to future interest rate cuts, in sharp contrast with other members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee, particularly those who were appointed by President , who are pushing for faster cuts.

have since moved higher in the bond market as traders pared bets for the number of upcoming cuts to rates by the Fed. That helped push up mortgage rates.

The has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. And, so far this year, sales are running below where they were at this time in 2024.

This week’s rise in rates could signal a repeat of what happened about a year ago after the Fed cut its benchmark rate for the first time in more than four years. Back then, mortgage rates fell for several weeks prior to the when the Fed cut rates at its September 2024 policy meeting. In the weeks that followed, however, mortgage rates began rising again, eventually reaching just above 7% in mid-January.

Like last year, the Fed’s rate cut doesn’t necessarily mean mortgage rates will keep declining, even as the central bank signals more cuts ahead.

Still, the late-summer decline in mortgage rates has already encouraged many homeowners who bought in recent years after rates climbed above 6% to refinance to a lower rate.

Home loan applications overall rose 0.6% last week from a week earlier as mortgage rates fell, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But applications for home refinance loans accounted for more than 60% of all applications, MBA said.

“Even with this week’s uptick, mortgage rates remain near 11-month lows, creating opportunities for both buyers and homeowners considering a refinance,” said Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.

Mortgage rates will have to go well below 6% to make refinancing an attractive option to a broader swath of homeowners, however. That’s because about 81% of U.S. homes have a mortgage with a rate of 6% or lower, according to Realtor.com.

Economists generally expect the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain near the mid-6% range this year.

Hawkeye 360 announces new CFO

Herndon-based geospatial analytics company announced Wednesday that it has promoted the company’s chief business officer, Craig Searle, to .

According to Searle’s LinkedIn profile, he was a member of 360’s board of directors and audit committee from 2019 to 2023 before joining the company as vice president of strategic finance. He became chief business officer earlier this year.

“Craig’s appointment as chief financial officer marks another important milestone in HawkEye 360’s evolution as a leader,” HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini said in a statement. “He brings proven financial expertise and business acumen that will strengthen our foundation as we scale to meet growing demand. Craig’s leadership will guide the financial strategy necessary to support customer mission success and advance HawkEye’s position as the premier provider of signals intelligence.”

Searle has over 20 years of finance experience, including 10 years of experience in mergers & acquisitions and capital market transactions. Before joining HawkEye 360, Searle worked as a director on the strategic investments and acquisitions team at Advance, owner of Condé Nast and other media companies.

Founded in 2015, HawkEye 360 collects radio frequency data from its constellations to identify and track activity and trends for military, maritime and intelligence clients.

In June, the company launched its Cluster 12 group of satellites from New Zealand aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket. India also agreed to pay the company $131 million in May for SeaVision software to counter illegal maritime activity.

Amazon to pay $2.5B in FTC Prime membership settlement

Summary:

  • agrees to $2.5B settlement with FTC over Prime practices
  • $1B civil penalty marks largest fine in FTC history
  • $1.5B to be paid back to customers enrolled or blocked from canceling
  • FTC said Amazon misled users and made cancellations difficult

SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon has reached a historic $2.5 billion settlement with the , which said the giant tricked customers into signing up for its Prime memberships and made it difficult for them to cancel after doing so.

The Seattle company will pay $1 billion in civil penalties — the largest fine in the agency’s history — and $1.5 billion will be paid back to consumers who were unintentionally enrolled in Prime, or were deterred from canceling their subscriptions, the agency said Thursday.

The surprise settlement comes just days after the trial began in U.S. District Court in Seattle this week. At the heart of the case is the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, a 2010 law designed to ensure that people know what they’re being charged for online.

FTC officials said Amazon had its back against the wall and the consumer refund amount exceeded even the agency’s expert projections.

“I think it just took a few days for them to see that they were going to lose. And they came to us and they paid out,” said Chris Mufarrige, director of the Bureau of , on the settlement negotiations.

Amazon, however, said it was confident it would win case but that it chose to resolve it quickly instead of going through potentially years of trial and appeals. The company admitted no wrongdoing in the case, which was first filed two years ago.

“Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” said spokesman Mark Blafkin in a statement. “We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their , and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.”

Certain Prime customers who are eligible for automatic refunds of up to $51 include those who may have signed up for a membership via the company’s “Single Page Checkout,” among other links, between June 23, 2019, to June 23, 2025. Those customers will be reimbursed within 90 days of the settlement order.

Amazon is also on the hook to set up a claims process for more than 30 million customers who may have been affected by the other issues at the heart of the FTC case, including its cancellation process.

Amazon Prime provides subscribers with perks that include faster shipping, video streaming and discounts at Whole Foods for a fee of $139 annually, or $14.99 a month.

It’s a key and growing part of Amazon’s business, with more than 200 million members. In its latest financial report, the company reported in July that it booked more than $12 billion in net revenue for , a 12% increase from the same period last year. That figure includes annual and monthly fees associated with Prime memberships, as well as other subscription services such as its music and e-books platforms.

The FTC said Amazon deliberately made it difficult for customers to purchase an item without also subscribing to Prime. In some cases, consumers were presented with a button to complete their transactions — which did not clearly state it would also enroll them in Prime, the agency said.

Getting out of a subscription was often too complicated, and Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would have made canceling easier, according to an FTC complaint.

Internally, Amazon called the process “Iliad,” a reference to the ancient Greek poem about the lengthy siege of Troy during the Trojan war. The process requires the customer to affirm on three pages their desire to cancel membership.

The FTC began looking into Amazon’s Prime subscription practices in 2021 during the first Trump administration, but the lawsuit was filed in 2023 under former FTC Chair Lina Khan, an antitrust expert who had been appointed by Biden.

The agency filed the case months before it submitted an antitrust lawsuit against the retail and company, accusing it of having monopolistic control over online markets.

As part of the settlement terms, Amazon is prohibited from misrepresenting the terms of the subscriptions. It must fully disclose the costs to be incurred and obtain the customer’s express consent for the charge. For example, it must have a clear option for customers to accept or decline a Prime subscription being offered during a purchase, avoiding potentially confusing language such as: “No thanks, I don’t want free shipping.”

Automatic renewals for memberships must be clearly marked and the company is also required to use a cancellation process, which “must not be difficult, costly, confusing or time consuming,” according to the settlement.

Amazon said the settlement doesn’t require it to make any additional changes — only to maintain its current sign-up and cancellation process that it had put in place in recent years.

Hegseth calls sudden meeting of U.S. generals, admirals

Summary

  • Hegseth orders meeting of hundreds of at
  • offers no reason for sudden high-level gathering
  • Comes after unexplained firings of senior military leaders
  • Hegseth has also directed deep cuts to top officer ranks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary has summoned the military’s top officers — hundreds of generals and admirals — to a base in for a sudden meeting next week, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The directive did not offer a reason for the gathering Tuesday of senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers at the Marine Corps base in Quantico. The people, who described the move as unusual, were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive plans and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon’s top spokesman, Sean Parnell, confirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.”

Across the military, there are 800 generals and admirals of all ranks. Many command thousands of service members and are stationed across the world in more than a dozen countries and time zones.

The meeting, first reported by The Washington Post, comes on the heels of several unusual and unexplained actions that Hegseth has taken involving military leaders.

In May, Hegseth ordered that the military cut 20% of its four-star general officers, directed an additional 10% cut from all general and flag officers across the force, and told the National Guard to shed 20% of its top positions.

In February, Hegseth fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top officer, and Gen. James Slife, the Air Force’s second highest officer, without explanation. He also relieved the military’s top lawyers.

Since then, Hegseth has fired other military leaders without saying why. Most recently it was a general who led a military intelligence agency whose initial assessment of U.S. damage to Iranian nuclear sites in American strikes angered President .

RTX subsidiary lands $578.6M Army contract

Raytheon, a subsidiary of -based aerospace and contractor , has been awarded a $578.63 million contract to procure Stinger missiles, ancillary equipment and related support.

The (recently rebranded by the Trump administration as the ) said that the contract was solicited online, and that one bid was received. The DOD estimates the contract will be completed by Sept. 29, 2031.

In service since 1981, the Stinger is a portable, shoulder-fired guided-missile system that can be rapidly deployed by ground troops for air defense.

RTX has more than 185,000 employees globally and reported more than $80.73 billion in 2024 sales. The contractor is the second highest ranked Virginia-based company on the 2025 Fortune 500.