For a region anchored by the largest naval base in the world, Hampton Roads has always had the ingredients for defense innovation. The commands are here. The contractors are here. The problems are here. What hasn’t been here, until now, is a real bridge between startups and the people who actually buy.

That’s the gap Kali Luthra stepped into when she took on the first iteration of 757 Defend.

Most accelerators follow a familiar script. Recruit a cohort, run programming, teach founders how to navigate a market, then end with a demo day and hope something sticks. The Defense Technology Accelerator took a different approach. Instead of starting with startups, it started with demand.

Working through the Mid-Atlantic Tech Bridge, the program sourced “critical needs” directly from government commands. Not hypothetical problems, not broad themes, but specific capability gaps tied to real stakeholders. Each need came with a point of contact, someone on the government side who had already said, “We need this.”

Then they built the cohort around that.

“We can run accelerator programs all day,” Luthra said. “But if you don’t have an actual customer attached, companies leave asking, ‘What next?’”

That shift, from education to access, defined the entire program. Twelve dual-use startups from across the country were brought in not just to learn how to work with the Department of Defense, but to engage with it directly.

And that “dual-use” requirement wasn’t just a checkbox. It became critical.

In November 2025, as the cohort prepared for its demo week, government funding stalled. A shutdown forced an immediate pause. The primary audience, government stakeholders, suddenly couldn’t show up. For a traditional accelerator, that might have been a breaking point.

Instead, it became a filter.

“This is why we recruit dual-use companies,” Luthra said. “When government funding stalls, are you able to sustain yourself?”

The program delayed its showcase, regrouped, and ultimately reemerged stronger. The cohort is now integrated into the Maritime Operations & Information Warfare Summit in Norfolk, placing those startups in front of the exact audience they were built to reach: operators, decision-makers, and defense leadership.

What came out of the first iteration wasn’t just a successful cohort. It was validation.

Companies in the program secured investment, formed direct relationships with government sponsors, and in some cases moved toward tangible agreements tied to their technologies. Just as important, the program pulled high-level startups from across the country into Hampton Roads, creating national visibility for a region that has often struggled to tell its own story.

That piece matters more than people realize.

At first glance, it might seem surprising that only one of the twelve companies came from Hampton Roads. But the goal of the first iteration wasn’t to be local. It was to be credible. By bringing in top-tier companies, including those working with NATO and participating in major national fellowships, the program positioned itself, and the region, as a serious player in defense innovation.

Now comes the next phase.

“I’d like to see a Hampton Roads-focused accelerator,” Luthra said. “Same concept, but cultivating companies here, working with the primes, the shipyards, building a more collaborative ecosystem.”

That’s the real opportunity. Not just attracting innovation, but producing it.

For a region with unmatched proximity to defense customers, the logic is simple. If the buyers are here, the builders should be too.

The first version of 757 Defend proved something important: startups will come to Hampton Roads if there’s a real path to the customer. The next version will focus on accelerating more of those companies from within Hampton Roads.

That’s when this stops being a program and starts becoming an engine.

 

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