Out of the $130 million round, $25 million is backed by the US Department of War as non-dilutive capital provided by Rochefort through the Office of Strategic Capital. Existing investors Lakestar, Mosaic Ventures and Costanoa Ventures also participated, with Bessemer Partner Alex Ferrara joining Auterion’s board.
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.”
Alex Ferrara, Partner at Bessemer, explained: “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. Auterion is at the forefront of this seismic shift, as the defence industry switches from peace time artisan hardware to war time mass production to defend democratic allies from foreign aggressors.”
Auterion has evolved from its autopilot origins into an operating system for autonomous mass operations. AuterionOS provides an interoperable platform that unifies fleets from multiple manufacturers into a coordinated network, enabling one operator to control many autonomous vehicles simultaneously.
The company’s Skynode X system integrates autopilot, mission computer, AI-powered autonomy, secure communications and edge computing, allowing drones to complete missions even under GPS and video jamming. Tested in combat, this technology is already in use on the battlefield.
Auterion’s systems are deployed in Ukraine, where under a Pentagon contract the company is delivering tens of thousands of AI “strike kits” to forces in the field. This represents the largest deployment of autonomous technology in the West to date, scaling up from thousands to tens of thousands of units.
Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with engineering bases in Zurich and Munich, Auterion maintains a presence in Kyiv to support Ukrainian defence operations. Its open-architecture software enables interoperability across manufacturers, drawing partnerships with major defence contractors such as Rheinmetall and Lockheed Martin.
Meier added: “We have a moral obligation to support democratic nations. Our technology ensures humans remain in control of targeting decisions while providing the autonomous capabilities needed to defend against – and deter – authoritarian threats.”
Auterion’s approach aims to democratise advanced autonomy by offering Skynode systems at costs comparable to consumer electronics while delivering defence-grade performance. The company’s solutions, spanning air, land and sea platforms, are designed to provide scalable capabilities to allied defence forces worldwide.
