Soldiers work together during a training exercise in 2011. Brian Rodan/US Army The Pentagon's so-called "embassy to Silicon Valley" is about to pump $30 million into companies working on technology that could be useful on the battlefield.

Known as Defense Innovation Unit - Experimental, or DIUx, it's the pet project of Defense Secretary Ash Carter that he announced in April 2015 with a budget of under $2 million. Now a year later, the small office is moving from mostly outreach and networking in its early months to directly doling out cash.

It turns out there is plenty of technology in the Valley that could "meet our military needs," as Carter put it in remarks Friday at the DefenseOne Tech Summit. But most companies don't know about, or are apprehensive, of working with the military.

That's what DIUx is trying to change.

'We need to try something new'

There are entire businesses built upon going after lucrative Defense Department contracts. But Silicon Valley companies, traditionally, are not among them.

A variety of factors contribute to that decision, including a certain mistrust of military and intelligence backing in a post-Snowden world. But one of the biggest problems has been the process takes insanely long: A fast-moving startup simply can't wait around for a contract that may (or may not) happen after months or years of waiting.

"We’ve learned that we can’t move at that pace and we need to try something new," Air Force Col. Jody Merritt, a reservist who worked with DIUx in its infancy, said in March at an event in Hawthorne, California. At the time, Merritt said the office's roughly 15 to 20 people were acting as "the Sherpa" that guides startups through the long process.

It's still too early to tell whether DIUx is making a difference in the tech world. But the office is expanding and changing with "version 2.0" bringing a new office in Boston, a direct line straight through the bureaucratic red tape to Carter himself, and offering investment funding for startups.

Though that $30 million for DIUx is not guaranteed. Carter requested the funds in his 2017 budget, which key lawmakers stripped from the House-passed budget, according to The Chicago Tribune. Obama threatened to veto the bill in response.

"It is experimental for a reason," Carter said on Friday. "We’re trying things out. … That’s fine. That’s what good innovators do."

AILA, or Artificial Intelligence Lightweight Android, presses switches on a panel it recognizes during a demonstration at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH (Deutsches Forschungszentrum fuer Kuenstliche Intelligenz GmbH) stand at the 2013 CeBIT technology trade fair on March 5, 2013 in Hanover, Germany. CeBIT will be open March 5-9. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

But what technologies is the DoD looking for?

"It's really about everything," a source familiar with DIUx told Tech Insider in December. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, said there were 17 communities of interest to DoD "ranging from space to biotech to cybersecurity technologies."

Also on DoD's radar are companies working on robotics, satellites, and artificial intelligence.

But most companies have no idea. The source related a story of attending a DIUx event in San Francisco with 20 different companies that all had at least some component with national security implications. But only one, the source said, was attempting to woo the military or intelligence communities.

"The mission is very simply, the Secretary of Defense is trying to find ways to widen the aperture … one of the ways is to extend an olive branch out to the technology community," the source said. "We live and work in the Valley and we also know how the Department of Defense works."