Gentle Weapons Selected for the Convoi Ventures Accelerator
Eight weeks of operator mentorship, closing with a demo day during Utah Hard Tech Week
Phoenix, AZ - October 6, 2026 - Gentle Weapons, a defense software infrastructure company, is partway through the Convoi Ventures Accelerator, an eight-week program that began September 2. The program pairs founders with operators who have built and scaled companies, and the cohort closes with a demo day during Utah Hard Tech Week.
Gentle Weapons builds software infrastructure for unmanned systems. The stack has three layers: a hardened Linux distribution that carries product security onto the vehicle, a private network that lets systems communicate with each other, and a deployment layer that ships software to 10 or 10,000 units in any environment, connected or airgapped.
The company launched V1 in September, midway through the cohort, and is now working through its first deployments with early partners.
The Convoi Accelerator is built around the same kind of feedback as YCombinator's eponymous accelerator, with a high level of scrutiny and drive toward customer obsession, "hyperfluency," and creative, ruthless delivery at a . The program runs on weekly accountability and mentorship from operators who have taken companies through the same stage, and it ends with a room full of investors rather than a certificate. Tim Bean, former CEO of Fortem Technologies, serves as Gentle Weapons' mentor for the program. Fortem, which recently raised a $50M Series B financing round, builds and fields counter-drone systems for defense and critical infrastructure customers. Tim's experience is incredibly relevant; he has run into the problems the Gentle Weapons platform solves firsthand.
Defense companies building operating systems, networking, and deployment in-house delay procurement and revenue, and they delay getting software-defined capability to the warfighter. Every month on that work is a month not spent on critical autonomy workloads that serve the end customer within the military.
About Gentle Weapons: Gentle Weapons is an American technology company building software infrastructure for unmanned systems: a hardened operating system, a private network for system-to-system communication, and software deployment at scale. The company announced its first round of funding led by Antler Ventures in July 2026 and is part of the NVIDIA Inception Program. https://gentleweapons.com/
About the Convoi Ventures Accelerator: The Convoi Ventures Accelerator is an eight-week program that takes founders from early traction toward fundraising readiness through operator mentorship, weekly accountability, and a closing demo day. The program takes no upfront fees or equity. https://accelerator.convoiventures.com/
Media Inquiries: media@gentleweapons.com
