Auterion raises $130 Million Series B

Auterion, the leading provider of autonomous systems software for defense, has raised $130 million led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Auterion’s Series B funding will be used to scale its AuterionOS platform and Nemyx defense system, which turns autonomous drones into coordinated combat forces operating across air, land, and sea domains.

The fundraise underpins the conviction from investors that Auterion’s AI-enabled software will transform the battlefield by powering commercial low-cost hardware at scale. This demonstrates that Auterion is taking a pioneering leadership role in providing this defense software to the US and her allies. The round led by Bessemer Venture Partners also includes participation of existing investor Lakestar, which led Auterion’s first institutional round (and has invested in every round since) as well as existing investors Mosaic Ventures and Costanoa Ventures. Out of the $130M round, $25M is backed by the US Department of War (non-dilutive capital backed by the Office of Strategic Capital of the Department of War and provided by Rochefort).

Lorenz Meier, Founder and CEO of Auterion, said: “The future of warfare is software-defined, unmanned, and at scale. Auterion’s customers are taking the lessons from Ukraine and applying them to deploying drone swarms. Decisive advantage on the battlefield won’t be achieved by individual drones – it’ll be achieved by autonomous mass. This funding will allow us to provide Auterion’s AI-enabled swarming capabilities to democratic governments around the world who need to develop those capabilities at scale.“

“The war in Ukraine has demonstrated that advancements in AI combined with commercially available hardware has changed the nature and economics of warfare, enabling new defensive and offensive capabilities at lower cost,” explained Alex Ferrara, Partner at Bessemer. “Auterion is at the forefront of this seismic shift, as the defense industry switches from peace time artisan hardware to war time mass production to defend democratic allies from foreign aggressors.“

ETH Zurich-spin-off Auterion has evolved from its open-platform autopilot origins to become the operating system for autonomous mass operations. The company’s AuterionOS provides an interoperable platform that unifies fleets from multiple manufacturers into a single, coordinated fabric, allowing one operator to control many autonomous vehicles simultaneously.

Battle-Tested in Ukraine, Scaling Globally

The company’s technology is currently deployed in Ukraine, where it powers autonomous drone operations in active combat. Under a recent Pentagon contract, Auterion is delivering tens of thousands of AI “strike kits” to Ukrainian forces – representing the largest deployment of autonomous technology in the West to date, and an unprecedented scale-up from previous thousands of units.

With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and significant engineering operations in Zurich and Munich, Auterion maintains a global presence that includes personnel on the ground in Kyiv supporting Ukrainian defense efforts.

Open Architecture Drives Adoption

Unlike proprietary systems that lock customers into single-vendor solutions, Auterion’s open architecture enables interoperability across multiple manufacturers and platforms. This approach has attracted partnerships with major defense contractors including Rheinmetall, Lockheed Martin, and aerospace manufacturers across the US, Europe, and allied nations.

(Press release / SK)