Colare Raises $2.5M to Staff the $35.6B Defense Tech Wave

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Colare raised $2.5M from Afore, Garage and Acadian for simulation-based assessments that let aerospace and hardware teams test engineers before interviews.
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Colare, a San Francisco hardware hiring startup, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round from Afore Capital, Garage Capital and Acadian Ventures and launched publicly on 26 October 2026. Its simulation-based assessments let aerospace, manufacturing and energy teams watch candidates solve realistic engineering problems in the tools of the job before any interview is booked. Colare says hiring one mechanical, electrical or embedded engineer takes about 40 hours of senior engineering time. About half of its clients are in aerospace and defense. The hiring load is rising with the sector: the space economy reached a record $686 billion in 2025 and defense tech startups raised $35.6 billion in the first half of 2026. Colare plans to turn its assessment data into a wider picture of what engineers can do, with skill replacing pedigree as the hiring credential.