European defence AI startup Agon has emerged from stealth with $30 million to build the training and testing infrastructure behind autonomous weapons systems.
The London and Berlin-based company is developing a “synthetic battle arena” in which military drones, interceptors and other autonomous systems can be trained against simulated adversaries and changing battlefield conditions.
Agon is addressing a looming and urgent problem in the modern battlefield, and that is knowing ‘what the hell is going on’, to use a technical term.
While defence companies are busy building AI-controlled systems, most have limited access to the battlefield data and live testing environments needed to improve and train the AI. Agon’s plan is to provide a secure virtual environment where systems can be tested repeatedly.
The company says its platform could shorten development cycles, reduce dependence on expensive live battlefield trials and allow governments to make procurement decisions. Think of it as Meta’s Horizon Worlds, just with a lot of guns, drones and tanks.
Agon was initially backed with a $7 million pre-seed round from Lakestar, 201 Ventures, D3 and several angel investors. It has now added a $23 million Seed round from XYZ Venture Capital, Lux Capital and Northzone. Existing investors also participated, while Lakestar founder Klaus Hommels has joined the board.
Agon Co-Founders Junaid Hussain (left) and Tristam Constant (right)
Given this is defence, the company has a pretty qualified leadership bench.
It’s led by Tristam Constant, previously at Anduril and Applied Intuition and a former British Army officer, alongside serial entrepreneur Junaid Hussain. Unity Technologies founder David Helgason is chairman.
You may remember Helgason when we covered the launch of Transition Ventures' second fund (at over $150M) and his desire to back deeptech (read: defence).
Agon has also recruited staff from Anduril, Helsing, Palantir, Google, Amazon, Havok and Unity. In its announcement, it says it is already working with European defence autonomy companies, although it has not named customers or disclosed much else about its technology’s performance, other than Constant saying in a statement: “We are in an AI arms race” and that Agon would allow European defence companies to develop systems “at the pace of the threat”.
But Agon’s appearance out of the blue is part of a much wider, and obvious shift. European VCs are no longer backing niche hardware areas like drones; they are also going after the infrastructure layer of the modern battlefield.
Similarly, Comand AI is targeting a similar part of the battlefield software stack. The French startup raised €32 million in June for its AI-powered command-and-control software, in a Series A led by London’s Blossom Capital.
Its ‘Prevail’ platform combines sensor feeds, intelligence and battlefield data to help military users plan and manage operations. Swedish defence group Saab joined the round as a strategic investor and plans to integrate the software into its GlobalEye surveillance aircraft and wider command systems.
And guess who’s using those GlobalEye planes? Ukraine.
Blossom’s investment reflects a growing interest in European defence alternatives to US platforms such as Palantir’s Maven, Anduril’s Lattice and Shield AI’s Commander. Prior to this year, Blossom was better known for Enterprise/SaaS investing. Not any more.
To whit, Blossom also recently led a $40 million Series A in British aerospace company Greenjets, alongside the NATO Innovation Fund and the UK government-backed National Security Strategic Investment Fund.
Greenjets is developing propulsion systems, aircraft and launch technologies. It has also been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence to develop a low-cost drone interceptor under the LCADE programme, with demonstration trials expected later this year.
From a small startup that specialised in engines, the company is now explicitly pitching itself as a future British aerospace and defence Prime, has expanded its UK facilities from 12,000 to nearly 70,000 square feet, and plans to grow from 160 employees to more than 250.
Meanwhile, another former SaaS-addicted VC, Lakestar, did a complete 360 in the last year (a story Pathfounders broke) and recently launched Resilience I, a $300 million fund devoted entirely to defence and dual-use technologies.
Its existing portfolio includes Agon, Helsing, Isar Aerospace, Cambridge Aerospace and ground robotics company ARX Robotics. BAE Systems has reportedly committed €25 million to the fund as a limited partner.
Then there are the relatively fresh defence VCs such as Expeditions, which closed its second fund at €197 million, more than doubling its targeted hard cap.
And remember how Northzone, another VC better known for SaaS investing, invested in Agon, as mentioned above? Well, earlier in this year, it co-led a $120m Series C raise into XBOW, an autonomous offensive security company, now valued at over $1 billion. The funding round was led by DFJ Growth and Northzone, with participation from Sofina, Alkeon Capital, Altimeter, NFDG Ventures, and Sequoia.
Ukraine has demonstrated the military importance of cheap drones, rapid software updates and battlefield data. With European governments scrambling to up their defence game, you can see how the VCs have spotted fresh customers in them there hills.
And given the state of the world and the secretive nature of the defence and security industries, no doubt we can expect to see many more startup launches ‘out of stealth.’
