Breaker opens its US headquarters in Austin
Breaker has opened its US headquarters in Austin, Texas. Co-founder and Co-CEO Matthew Buffa has moved from Sydney to lead the office, which sits inside Capital Factory, the city's startup hub. Sydney remains the home of Breaker's engineering team.
The choice of city was deliberate. Austin is one of the few places in the United States where a fast-growing startup scene and the Army's modernization effort share the same streets.
The people deciding how the US military adopts autonomy work in the same building as us. Being here means we can put Avalon in front of them, hear what they need, and come back with it working.
Matthew Buffa, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Breaker
A defense city
The US Army chose Austin in 2018 as the headquarters of Army Futures Command, the command responsible for modernizing the force. It has more than 17,000 personnel worldwide1.
The command's innovation unit, the Army Applications Laboratory, works out of Capital Factory2. It connects soldiers with the commercial companies that can solve their problems. In 2024 the Defense Innovation Unit, AFWERX and NavalX opened a joint defense innovation space in the same building3. Few buildings in the country put more of the US military's innovation offices under one roof.
The talent base runs deep. The University of Texas at Austin ranks fifth in the nation for Department of Defense-financed research and development spending1. The region employs about 13,000 people in aerospace and 143,000 in STEM occupations1. Trained personnel transitioning out of nearby Fort Cavazos and Joint Base San Antonio add to it1.
A startup city
Austin is also one of the country's most active places to build a company. Startups based in the city raised $4.37 billion in venture funding in 20244. Tech accounts for 24.7% of the local economy, the fourth-highest share of any US metro1.
That combination is rare. A startup in Austin can raise capital, hire engineers and meet its military customers without leaving the city.
Two offices, one company
The Austin office leads Breaker's US operations, customer work and partnerships with defense primes and robotics manufacturers. Sydney remains the core engineering hub. With a team on each side of the Pacific, work on Avalon continues around the clock.
Breaker is hiring in both cities. It is looking for engineers and operators with experience in defense robotics, autonomous systems and AI deployment. Open roles are on the careers page.
- 1 Opportunity Austin, Aerospace and Defense one-pager, 2025. ↩
- 2 Austin American-Statesman, Army Futures Command opens Austin innovation center at Capital Factory, 21 February 2019. ↩
- 3 DVIDS, Joint Defense Innovation Space Opens in Austin, 2024. ↩
- 4 Crunchbase News, Austin's star is still shining bright: venture funding to city's startups hits all-time high. ↩