Estonian-Ukrainian defence tech company DOD Solution has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to scale AURA AI, its onboard autonomy platform for unmanned systems.
The round brings together investors from Ukraine, France, Germany and the US, with Canadian drone company Draganfly joining as a strategic investor. The round also includes Angel One Fund, Better Angle, Defence Builder Fund, Network VC, Newfund, UAID Fund, WildField Ventures and 4C-Next Holding AG.
DOD Solution will attend the Resilience Conference in London where they will pitch on our LAUNCH stage.
The company develops onboard computing and autonomy technology designed to give unmanned systems greater independence from GPS, communications links and offboard processing. Its AURA AI platform combines the AURA SBC onboard computer with the company’s AURA OS software stack, supporting functions including visual navigation, perception, target recognition and tracking, terminal guidance and mission autonomy.
“This funding will accelerate the next stage of AURA AI — expanding our capabilities, scaling integrations across more unmanned platforms, strengthening our hardware and software stack, and accelerating deployment in Ukraine and international markets,” said founder Roman Hapachylo on LinkedIn.
Rather than building its own drone around the technology, DOD Solution is developing AURA as an autonomy layer that can be integrated into different unmanned platforms. The system is designed for FPV drones, interceptor drones and fixed-wing UAVs, with the company also positioning its hardware for autonomous systems operating across air, land and sea. Its technology has already been used in combat in Ukraine.
The company has been building a wider network around AURA as it moves toward larger-scale deployment. In July, DOD Solution partnered with Lantronix to integrate its autonomy technology with Qualcomm-based edge computing hardware for FPV, fixed-wing and interceptor platforms. It has also partnered with European AI hardware company Axelera AI on higher-performance onboard computing for autonomous defence systems, initially focusing on high-speed interceptors. More recently, DOD Solution partnered with Estonia’s Defsecintel Solutions to combine AURA AI with the EIRSHIELD counter-UAS system for autonomous drone detection and interception.
The new funding will support production of the next generation of the AURA SBC, further development of AURA OS and its onboard AI capabilities, and integrations with more unmanned platform manufacturers. DOD Solution is also developing the next AURA SBC around a more resilient component supply chain and with the goal of meeting NDAA compliance requirements as it expands in Europe and North America.
