The Icelandic-Estonian defence data startup backed by Darkstar says fresh investment will advance pilot projects across Europe
Stratis, the Icelandic data analytics startup that launched from stealth at the Resilience Conference earlier this year, has closed its seed funding round to accelerate the rollout of its strategic data analysis platform aimed at defence, intelligence, and critical infrastructure users.
The company, which describes its mission as “lifting the fog of war,” said the new funding will be used to grow its engineering team, strengthen partnerships across Europe, and roll out pilot projects with selected partners. One of the investors is Darkstar Ventures, the defence-focused investment firm that has backed several dual-use technology startups across Europe.
The company hasn’t disclosed the size of the round or named other investors, and didn’t respond to Resilience Media’s questions. However, this is an increasingly common practice in the defence-tech sector to keep funding details confidential for security and compliance reasons.
Stratis was co-founded by Icelandic entrepreneur Ingvar Helgason, former Pirate Party technologist Smári McCarthy, and Davíð Helgason, co-founder and former CEO of Unity Technologies. The team’s background spans defence, data science, and real-time simulation – experience that underpins the company’s goal of delivering rapid, situational insight to decision-makers operating in contested or fast-moving environments.
The Stratis platform merges large spatial and temporal datasets – from satellite imagery to logistics and market data – into a unified analytical environment. By blending classified inputs with open source intelligence, it promises to give commanders, analysts, and planners a single, secure interface for live operational awareness and predictive modelling.
“We have hot wars, cold wars and trade wars all happening in Europe at once,” said Helgason. “Our platform helps lift the fog of war. Speed and clarity have become indispensable for protecting nations, infrastructures, or markets under pressure. Stratis delivers the necessary insights in near real-time.”
Helgason said the system’s design reflects lessons learned from real operational contexts, where delays in data interpretation can mean the difference between strategic success and failure. “We give decision-makers a simple way to turn overwhelming data into immediate understanding,” he said. “The capital allows us to build faster and expand our partnership pipeline.”
At Resilience Conference earlier this year, Helgason shared the stage with Ragnar Sass, co-founder of Darkstar, who told the audience the firm had written its “biggest cheque so far” to back Stratis. “We spent time with [Stratis] in Ukraine this summer, and we have not met such a capable team that is so mission-driven to help where it is most needed,” Sass said.
With headquarters split between Reykjavík and Tallinn, both hubs of defence innovation, Stratis is positioning itself as a bridge between Europe’s public and private intelligence ecosystems. The seed round marks its formal entry into a market that is seeing increasing investor interest in sovereign data platforms capable of operating at both classified and commercial levels.
The platform is now being prepared for release to a small group of pilot customers before a broader launch in 2026.
