HighPost Capital has formed HighPost Aerospace, Defense, and Cybersecurity (ADC), a new vertical that will make middle-market buyouts and late-stage investments in aerospace, defense, cybersecurity and government services companies.
The new group is led by David Walsh, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer and managing partner of FON Advisors. The ADC vertical is HighPost’s first move beyond the consumer companies that have made up its portfolio since the firm was founded in 2019. Mr. Walsh and his team will handle origination, execution and portfolio operations. The group will focus on fast-growing companies across its four sectors and will also consider select larger businesses. Capital for the effort comes from a commitment by Azimut Group (Euronext: AZM), the Italian asset manager that has controlled HighPost since May 2025.
Mr. Walsh graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a Navy intelligence officer before moving into business. He founded Prescient Edge, an intelligence services company, and as its chief executive moved its headquarters to Chicago in 2015. He later became managing partner of FON Advisors, a Virginia-based investment bank that advises aerospace, defense and government services companies.
“Many businesses that matter most to national security are often small, founder-led, and underserved by institutional capital,” said Mr. Walsh. “Our team has spent our careers investing in and building operating businesses like these. As part of HighPost, which has an impressive track record of supporting exceptional founder-owned and entrepreneur-led businesses, we can give these enterprises a partner that understands the mission and can help them grow.”
The ADC team and its advisors include Matthew Bluhm, former chief executive of Decon7 Systems, a Texas-based company that sells a decontamination formula developed at Sandia National Laboratories to neutralize chemical and biological agents, and John Rompon, formerly co-founder and managing partner of McNally Capital, a Chicago private equity firm focused on aerospace, defense and industrial technology.
They are joined by former U.S. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, who chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 2015 to 2020, and Thomas Feddo, the first Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security. From 2019 to 2021, Mr. Feddo oversaw the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the interagency panel that reviews foreign investment in U.S. companies for national security risks.
“The launch of a dedicated national security vertical marks a significant milestone in developing HighPost as a premier, multi-vertical alternative investments platform,” said David Moross, the founder and chief executive officer of HighPost. “David Walsh and his talented team, coupled with highly attractive, long-term tailwinds in the aerospace, defense, and cybersecurity sectors, led us to decide that now is the right time to move forward with this vision.”
There is certainly capital flowing into the sectors HighPost is targeting. Congress appropriated $839.2 billion for the Department of Defense for fiscal 2026 in February, on top of $152.3 billion in defense funding included in the July 2025 reconciliation law, according to the Congressional Research Service. The administration has requested $1.5 trillion for national defense in fiscal 2027. NATO allies committed in June 2025 to spend 5% of GDP on defense and related security by 2035.
Cybersecurity spending is climbing as well. Gartner forecasts worldwide information security spending of $240 billion in 2026, up 12.5% from 2025, while Grand View Research puts the U.S. cybersecurity market at $73.8 billion in 2025 and expects it to grow about 9% annually through 2033. PwC estimates that global aerospace and defense deal value topped $30 billion in 2025 and is tracking toward about $32 billion in 2026.
“Companies that supply national security missions need experienced, long-term capital, and reaching them takes people who have spent their careers inside that community,” added Mr. Moross. “In addition to David and his team, the HighPost relationship with the Bezos family’s deep sector knowledge brings significant relationships, operating experience, and judgement this market requires.”
HighPost enters a sector with no shortage of established specialists. Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based firm founded in 1999, closed its seventh fund at $6.0 billion in October 2025. AE Industrial Partners, founded in 2015 and based in Boca Raton, Florida, closed its third fund at $1.28 billion in July 2024. Veritas Capital of New York closed its ninth fund at $15.3 billion in February 2026, and Enlightenment Capital of Chevy Chase, Maryland, closed its fifth fund at $825 million in November 2024.
Recent deals include Arlington’s March 2026 agreement to acquire Sydney-based naval vessel maintenance provider Eptec Defence, which it combined with U.S. naval services provider AMP United in July to form Highwater; McNally’s December 2025 acquisition of Texas-based turboprop engine repair shop Airforce Turbine Service; and McNally’s August 2026 majority investment in Virginia-based space and intelligence contractor TENICA Global Solutions.
“By combining HighPost’s deep investment experience with Azimut Group’s significant capital commitment, sector expertise, and global reach, we have built a strong foundation to partner with the critical businesses shaping the future of aerospace, defense, and cybersecurity,” concluded Mr. Moross.
HighPost Capital makes control buyouts and late-stage growth investments in companies with EBITDA of $15 million or more and revenue of $75 million or more. Its existing sectors of interest are sports, media, health and wellness, leisure and lifestyle. The firm raised its first fund in August 2022 with $420 million, or $535 million including co-investment vehicles. Its early-stage affiliate HIPstr raised $100 million in August 2024.
HighPost’s investments include digital fitness platform Centr, cereal maker Magic Spoon, creator platform Spotter, Inspire Fitness, Equip Foods and ecommerce agency Front Row Group, in which it invested alongside Charlesbank Capital Partners in November 2024.
West Palm Beach-based HighPost was founded by David Moross and Mark Bezos in 2019. Mr. Bezos is the half-brother of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Azimut Group acquired a 12.5% stake in HighPost in March 2021 and increased its ownership to 56% in May 2025. HighPost is headquartered in Florida with an additional office in New York City.
