Estonian-Ukrainian defence technology company DOD Solution, which develops onboard autonomy technologies for unmanned systems, has raised $2.1m in a pre-seed round. The investment will be used to further develop and scale the AURA AI autonomy platform. This is stated in the company’s press release.
The round included Angel One Fund, Better Angle, Defence Builder Fund, Network VC, Newfund, UAID Fund, WildField Ventures and 4C-Next Holding AG, as well as a number of business angels. Canadian unmanned technology company Draganfly joined the round as a strategic investor. Notably, this month Draganfly was named among six drone suppliers to the Canadian Armed Forces under the DDIM marketplace, modelled on Ukraine’s Brave1.
The funds raised will be directed towards launching production of the next-generation AURA SBC, further development of AURA OS and onboard AI capabilities, and accelerating integrations with unmanned platform manufacturers in Ukraine and in international markets.
A pre-seed round is the very earliest stage of fundraising for a start-up, when the company exists mainly at the level of an idea, a team and an initial prototype or minimum viable product.
DOD Solution is an Estonian-Ukrainian defence technology company that develops onboard computers and autonomy systems for unmanned platforms. The company works with unmanned platform manufacturers, integrating AI-based autonomy across a wide range of defence applications.
Its flagship product is the AURA AI onboard autonomy platform, which combines the AURA SBC onboard computer and AURA OS software. The platform provides autonomous navigation, environmental perception, target recognition and tracking, and terminal guidance in conditions of GPS signal loss and limited or no communications. AURA AI can be integrated into various types of UAVs, including FPV drones, interceptor drones and fixed-wing drones. According to the developers, AURA AI has already been used in combat conditions in Ukraine.
The next generation of AURA SBC is being developed with production scaling and the requirements of the NDAA—the US defence procurement law—in mind. DOD Solution is also building an appropriate component supply chain to enter the markets of Europe and North America.
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“Autonomy must work across different unmanned systems and under different operating conditions, rather than remaining a standalone feature tied to a single platform. Our task now is to make AURA AI easier to integrate and scale, and to expand its capabilities for increasingly complex onboard missions. This round gives us the resources and partners we need to accelerate that development,” said DOD Solution CEO Roman Hapachylo.
DOD Solution has already built a network of technology and industry partnerships supporting this strategy, including with Lantronix and Axelera AI. The collaboration covers onboard computing, AI acceleration and integrated counter-unmanned systems solutions, helping the company scale the integration of autonomy technologies across different types of unmanned platforms.
Recently, DOD Solution and Estonia’s Defsecintel Solutions agreed to develop AI systems to counter drones. The development will combine Defsecintel’s EIRSHIELD detection system with DoD Solution’s AURA AI autonomy platform for navigation and terminal guidance.