Auterion raises $130 million Series B funding

The US-German tech company, Auterion, has raised $130 million (approx £96 million/€110 million) in its Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, according to a September 23 press release. The company produces autonomy stacks and operating systems that enable drone swarms to be deployed. The funding will accelerate “scaling production of its AuterionOS platform and Nemyx defense system, which turns autonomous drones into coordinated combat forces operating across air, land, and sea domains,” the press release states.

As part of the investment, Bessemer Partner Alex Ferrara will join Auterion’s board. The round was joined by Lakestar, which has supported Auterion throughout its funding journey, as well as Mosaic Ventures and Costanoa Ventures, which are also existing investors. Interestingly, $25 million (£19 million/€21 million) was backed by the US Department of War. This is described as “non-dilutive capital backed by the Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) of the Department of War and provided by Rochefort.” 

The OSC’s mission is to work with private sector investors to strengthen critical technology areas and supply chains that are important for national security. It aims to bridge the gap between technological innovation and full-scale production, which is often a challenge for startups and smaller companies. And non-dilutive capital means funding that is provided without Auterion giving up a share of its ownership, as appears to have been the case with Bessemer’s investment and the seat at the board. 

The Series B follows a Series A, which is thought to have raised around $41 million (approx £34 million/€38 million) in December 2022, a Seed round announced in 2018 and valued at $10 million (£7 million/€8 million), as well as a 2017 pre-seed. The seed round was led by Lakestar, according to clay.com, and presumably the fund played a role in the Series A, as well. It is also worth noting that the OSC’s investment builds on earlier funding provided by In-Q-Tel, the US intelligence community’s venture capital arm.

Company profile: Auterion

Auterion was co-founded by Lorenz Meier and Kevin Sartori in 2017. Lorenz is a Ph.D. in drone software architecture and the creator of several drone industry standards, including the open-source flight control software PX4 and the hardware project Pixhawk. Kevin has a Master’s degree in robotics and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He previously held a product manager role at the drone company 3D Robotics.

Auterion has secured a number of partnerships relevant to defence since being established, including with Rheinmetall and Doodle Labs. It has also been contracted to provide 33,000 Skynode Drone Strike Kits to Ukraine under a $50 million (£37 million/€42 million) contract from the US DoD. The kits are used to turn conventional drones into autonomous weapon systems, according to Auterion, which enables them to track and engage moving targets at distances up to 1 km. 

It has other products like Nemyx, which is used to coordinate drone swarms from different manufacturers. This product appears to be similar to others such as Cobalt from Arondite, Dominion-X from Elbit Systems, Amorphous from L3Harris, and the future collaboration between Helsing and Systematic. The company, like many others, believe that autonomous swarms are the future of warfare. 

Calibre comment

As noted above, there are many companies working in the drone swarm management space. It is a technology area that has strong applicability both to defence and the commercial space, which makes it an attractive investment proposal for the funds that are looking at defence. Auterion also started out in the commercial space, aiming to provide a common operating system for the zoo of different drones and standards in the commercial world. With defence seen as a significant opportunity in the next decade, several companies are making the move from purely commercial to blended offerings.

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on September 23, 2025. Credit for the lead image is Auterion, and it is a graphic of the Nemyx system.