Well, for anyone who thought that we’d have a chill autumn here in defense tech world, sorry. The money moves continue.
This morning, autonomy software company Auterion announced that they’ve raised a $130M Series B led by Bessemer Ventures, with participation from existing investors Lakestar, Mosaic Ventures, and Costanoa Ventures.
The company says it will use the money to scale production of its AuterionOS platform and Nemyx defense system. Everyone really does love a drone swarm, don’t they?
First in class: First, a bit about Auterion: The software company was founded way back in 2017 by Lorenz Meier (now CEO) and Kevin Sartori, who has since stepped away from day-to-day operations.
The startup spun out of an academic team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) that was building autonomous flight control systems—they initially focused on building delivery drones before pivoting to defense following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Auterion raised a $10M seed round in 2018 and has been on the up-and-up ever since.
- Prior to this new injection of cash, the company had raised a total of $62M, according to Pitchbook data.
- Back in July, the company announced a $50M DoD contract to send 33,000 AI-powered drone guidance “strike kits” to Ukraine by end-2025.
- Last December, the company also announced a partnership with German defense giant Rheinmetall to “create a military industry standard for controlling and operating unmanned aerial, land and naval drone systems.” They also have a partnership with Lockheed Martin, according to the company.
- In June, the company inked an MoU with Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) to provide swarming software to Taiwan’s military.
Meier and his team set up shop in the DC area last year (drone dominance, anyone?) and also maintain offices in Zurich and Munich. Love a transcontinental collab.
Big brain: Think of Auterion’s software as the AI-powered brain behind the swarms of drones everyone hates to see coming on a battlefield. They’ve got a few main products:
- AuterionOS: A battle-hardened version of the PX4 autopilot system that made Meier and his team famous. This is the base for all of their tech—and the secret sauce that has won them so much investment.
- Skynode: Compact hardware modules that run AuterionOS and enable things like autonomy and mission execution. Basically, they can take any drone and make it autonomous and jamming-resistant. They’re also pretty cheap. These are what will be sent to Ukraine.
- Nemyx: Auterion’s swarming software, built on an older version called Nemesis. This enables multi-drone coordination and mission planning, even in contested environments.
All of the company’s software is designed to be open-platform and quick to integrate—meaning any company or drone can plug in and become part of the swarm, real fast. And they’ve already tested the software on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“These technologies have reduced the training time needed for pilots, overcome jamming, increased hit-rates, and adapted rapidly to changes on the battlefield,” Meier told Tectonic back in July.
Stars and Stripes: With this new injection of cash, all eyes at Auterion seem to be on the US. $25M of the $130M is backed by the DoD’s Office of Strategic Capital and provided by Rochefort. The company said in the statement announcing the raise that the investment “demonstrates that Auterion is taking a pioneering leadership role in providing this defense software to the US and her allies.”
But expansion across the Atlantic will continue, too: In an interview with Bloomberg, Meier said that Auterion will announce contracts with two European countries “soon.” Exciting times—who’s got the popcorn?