Lambda Automata raises €6 million in seed funding led by Air Street Capital
Lambda Automata, the developer of AI-first hardware and software for the age of autonomous defense, announced its €6 million seed round, led by Air Street Capital.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated both the threat to western democracies and the shifting nature of strategic advantage. Having a greater number of helicopters or tanks than one’s opponent is no longer guaranteed to provide an edge.
Devices that were once scarce, such as drones and high-quality cameras, are now commonplace. Being able to integrate the vast quantities of data streams that are generated on the battlefield, and transform it into actionable intelligence, will be key. However, the modern battlefield is an electromagnetically contested environment, where high-bandwidth networks, processing power from a distant cloud server, or even reliable satellite navigation, cannot be taken for granted.
Amid this sea of data, success won’t come from the next exquisitely complex and expensive manned platform. Instead, it will lie in combining cost-effect hardware components with state-of-the-art perception and autonomy software.
European democracies remain unprepared for this new paradigm. The European defense world remains dominated by a handful of primes, who are either unsuited for world-class software development, or aren’t incentivised to pursue creative solutions.
Dimitrios Kottas, Founder and CEO of Lambda Automata said, “Europe’s defense industry urgently needs a renaissance. The continent that once built Concorde in record time is struggling to respond to the latest developments in autonomous warfare, even as a large-scale war rages on our doorstep. With its large AI talent pool, Europe can be front and center in adapting to this change. However, this will only happen if we respond with the right level of urgency and begin ramping up our in-house deterrence capabilities.”
Lambda Automata is building the digital backbone for the age of autonomous warfare. Its team, which combines previous experience from Apple, Palantir, and the Hellenic Army Academy, is developing an ambitious range of AI-first hardware and software products for western democracies that will deliver real-time, analyst-grade intelligence in the field. Their first products, which have already been deployed, help transition ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance) from a manual sequence to an automated process.
The heart of Lambda’s current offering is Lambda Autonomous Surveillance Node (L-ASN), an edge situational awareness module. It packs Lambda’s perception software into hardware that has been specially designed for harsh environments, bringing intelligence to the edge. It can connect to and operate any networked camera to precisely pinpoint and track the location of people, vehicles, and vessels. It can be extended to include other events of interest (e.g. smokepiles).
Lambda-ASN sits at the heart of the Lambda Autonomous Surveillance Tower (L-AST) – the company’s first end product – a solar and battery-powered monitoring solution. L-ASTcan be deployed to enable perimeter security applications, including land border and coastal surveillance, as well as forest protection. L-AST has been deployed for forest protection in Greece, while it is currently used for coastal monitoring from an undisclosed government client.
Nathan Benaich, General Partner at Air Street Capital added, “Dimitrios and his team are the embodiment of what Air Street means when we talk about European Dynamism. They combine detailed knowledge of the challenge, technical excellence, and real dedication to the mission. We’re proud to support them as they build the next European defense challenger.”
The proceeds of this round will be used to continue building out Lambda’s engineering team and to open a head office in London, placing it at the heart of the European AI and defense ecosystems.
