Funding
SE3 Raises $30M Series A to Scale Spatial AI for Autonomous Systems
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SE3 announced on November 12, 2026 that it had raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Accel, with participation from Keen, Lakestar and Seedcamp, to develop and scale spatial intelligence software for drones and other autonomous systems.
The Munich-founded company combines computer vision and AI to turn sensor data into spatial understanding, enabling machines to operate autonomously. It is developing the technology for complex environments where systems must work reliably, including when satellite navigation is disrupted.
European defence is the initial market. SE3 says large drone fleets in Ukraine are stretching the limits of human supervision while electronic warfare disrupts satellite navigation, increasing the need for autonomy that places less demand on operators. The technology is already deployed in Ukraine.
SE3 reports shipping thousands of systems over the past two years and working on multiple contracts with Ukraine and Germany’s armed forces, the Bundeswehr. It is an AI partner to defence primes including Rheinmetall and HENSOLDT, and to scale-ups including Auterion and ERC System.
A Neutral Software Layer for Mixed Fleets
The platform-agnostic software connects drones and ground vehicles from different manufacturers and fuses their sensor data into a shared 3D picture of the environment. SE3 says the software uses that picture to coordinate the swarm, optimizing each system’s behavior, routes and positions based on its understanding of the terrain. Operators can command all functions by voice, while the software runs entirely on edge devices—the local computers on the platforms—to keep systems operational in contested environments.
That design fits a defence procurement landscape moving toward modularity and interoperability. The Modular Open Systems Approach and Germany’s MOSABw programme make it easier for armed forces to combine systems from different suppliers. For SE3, that creates a role as a neutral software provider across manufacturers’ platforms without producing unmanned vehicles that compete with its partners.
Research Origins and Expansion Plans
SE3 was founded by CEO Lukas Köstler, CTO Simon Klenk and Chief Science Officer Daniel Cremers. The company spun out of Cremers’ computer vision laboratory at the Technical University of Munich, where Köstler and Klenk were working on doctorates in computer vision and robotics. Cremers holds the university’s chair for computer vision and AI.
The proceeds will fund growth across engineering, commercial and operations teams as SE3 prepares to fulfil additional contracts. The company plans to strengthen its presence in Germany and Ukraine, open a UK office and expand further across Europe.
Defence remains the immediate focus, with plans to explore robotics, emergency response and other civilian applications for demanding environments from 2027. The funding announcement said the founders’ research background made the team well qualified to build spatial AI for autonomous systems, and described the investment as backing sovereign spatial intelligence for Europe.
The round ties SE3’s near-term expansion to defence contracts while preserving a route into civilian autonomy. The key commercial question is whether its existing partnerships and shared software architecture can be converted into wider deployments across manufacturers, without SE3 having to build a competing vehicle fleet.
