New German defence-tech startup Ground A has raised €9.1 million in pre-seed funding to commercialise a laser-based counter-drone system designed to take down small, fast-moving drones at a fraction of the cost of conventional interceptor missiles. The round was led by Munich and London-based Vsquared Ventures, which claims it’s the largest pre-seed round in German defence tech to date.
Founded only in January 2026, the Berlin- and Düsseldorf-based Ground A says its first product, the GA 1000 unit, has already moved from prototype development into testing and validation. Initial commercial systems are expected to ship in 2026, with scale-up production planned in Germany from 2027.
Also participating in the round were Quantum Systems, GRIF, Robin Capital, ABACON, Leblon Capital and OVNI Capital. Individual investors include Quantum Systems co-founder Florian Seibel, J14 Capital, Andreas Nauerz, Marlon Braumann and Arx Robotics managing director Stefan Roebel.
The €9.1 million round will finance the establishment of modular production capacity in Germany. Ground A said it expects to raise again in 2027 as it scales manufacturing.
The company is entering a defence market where militaries are too often using disproportionately expensive weapons to destroy much cheaper drones.
That imbalance has been exposed most clearly in Ukraine, where low-cost FPV drones are deployed in huge numbers on both sides for reconnaissance, targeting and direct attacks. The result has been the need for counter-drone systems that meet the same or lower level of cost as the attacking drones themselves.
The laser is concentrated on a very small point on a moving drone
Ground A’s system combines radar and other sensors with computer vision, proprietary AI and a laser effector, and claims to use far less power than previous laser systems.
Cofounder Dr Tobias Brune told Pathfounders over its podcast that while some laser systems operate at around 100 kilowatts, the GA 1000 operates at below 10 kilowatts, which means a huge reduction in the need for energy. By contrast Britain’s DragonFire system is reportedly in the 50 kW class, so substantially higher.
Ground A says it demonstrated its first prototype against a fast-moving object in April, around three months after the company was founded, and is now pushing towards shipping its first commercial machines before the end of 2026.
The trick, Brune said, is increasing the level of accuracy so that the laser is concentrated on a very small point on a moving drone, meaning the energy delivered per square centimetre on the drone becomes enough to take it down.
If you ever used a magnifying glass on ants as a kid, you’ll find that concept familiar.
“The most critical factor is how you detect and then target the drone,” Brune said, arguing that Ground A’s AI-powered tracking is designed to follow the complex flight paths of FPV drones.
But Brune was also careful not to present lasers as a universal solution.
“A laser will [not] solve every problem against drones,” he said. Ground A instead sees the GA 1000 as a “last mile” defence system for relatively close-range protection of military positions and critical infrastructure.
Ground A team
Despite this, such a system could dramatically lower the cost per drone taken down, and without using up valuable missile or ammunition stocks.
Ground A says the system has already undergone real-world testing in Germany, including at an airport.
Brune told Pathfounders that the company had demonstrated the ability to “detect and bring down” a drone in less than a second and had also tested the system against several drones simultaneously rather than simply tracking a single target against a clear sky.
While Ground A has not yet tested the GA 1000 in Ukraine, Brune said they intend, to do so and they are already in discussions with several Ukrainian brigades.
Ground A says further testing with industrial partners in Germany and elsewhere in Europe is also in the plan.
There are long-standing technical challenges around laser weapons, which struggle with rain, fog, and atmospheric interference, as well as what the drones they are targeting are made of.
Ground A its GA 1000 will work with multiple laser wavelengths which can help compensate for changing conditions and different target surfaces.
It’s also highly mobile. The GA 1000 weighs less than 200kg and occupies roughly the footprint of a Euro pallet. Brune says that makes it small enough to mount on pickup trucks, tanks, unmanned ground vehicles and other existing platforms.
Its architecture is also designed to be open and system-agnostic. Rather than functioning only as a standalone weapon, Ground A says the GA 1000 can plug into existing sensors, command-and-control systems and wider air-defence networks, and could potentially even be housed in an aircraft or drone.
For instance, the Tekever AR6 is an autonomous heavy-lift drone built in the UK designed to carry 200kg over 500km.
Having a ‘Human in the loop’, is also a major feature. While Brune said Ground A could technically automate the entire process of downing a drone, it has deliberately kept the final decision with the operator.
The other challenge is turning this system into something that can actually be manufactured in large numbers.
However, Brune’s background, spending 15 years in mechanical and plant engineering, including at industrial laser specialist TRUMPF and SMS Group, is likely to come in handy.
“There’s a huge difference” between building a prototype and scaling a system with reliable performance in the field, Brune told Pathfounders.
He said Ground A started planning its production factory only a couple of months after the company was founded, rather than waiting for the GA 1000’s development to finish.
It’s also designing production around modular components, with some parts produced externally while retaining the option to bring critical production in-house and avoid dependence on individual suppliers.
“We need to prepare, we need to plan and do things in parallel,” Brune said, rather than develop a product first and only then begin thinking about how to scale it.
Ground A’s system is also being built to operate in environments ranging from minus 40 degrees Celsius to as high as 80 degrees Celsius.
The company has grown quickly. According to Brune, Ground A began with its three co-founders in January, had five employees by March and has since expanded to around 25 people.
Alongside Brune, co-founder Daniel Hariri leads software, artificial intelligence and system architecture, while Roland Spiegelhalter brings expertise in drones, aeronautical engineering and high-power laser systems, including experience at TRUMPF.
The GA 1000 is intended to be only the first product in a broader counter-drone and air-defence platform.