SAN FRANCISCO — Aurelius Systems has closed a $40 million Series A funding round. The investment was co-led by Draper Associates and KAS Venture Partners, with participation from General Catalyst, Hanwha Defense USA, Outlander, Alumni Ventures, Bravo Victor Venture Capital (BVVC), Detroit Venture Partners, Decisive Point, among other investors.
The new funding will expand the Company’s flagship platform, Archimedes, through technical development, scale and expand operations and production. It will also support vertical integration to reduce supply chain risk, improve availability of critical components, strengthen long-term manufacturing resilience and readiness, and accelerate delivery to customers. The additional funding will also be used to broaden platform offerings and expand into new markets.
“This investment marks the next phase of Aurelius’ growth as we continue to advance Archimedes, accelerate manufacturing readiness and expand the capabilities we deliver to the defense ecosystem,” said Michael LaFramboise, CEO and co-founder of Aurelius. “The increased use of coordinated drone threats has fundamentally changed the definition of ‘readiness,’ which is why we developed a scalable platform built for speed, volume, and the economics of today’s operating environment to protect the people, assets, and infrastructure that matter most.”
“Aurelius has consistently demonstrated its ability to execute, from validating its technology to building partnerships that expand the deployment of modern counter-drone capabilities. We believe the company is redefining how autonomous directed-energy systems are developed and deployed to address the rapidly evolving drone threat landscape,” said Andy Tang, Partner at Draper Associates. “This investment reflects our confidence in the team’s technical expertise and vision, and our belief that Aurelius is crucial to protecting not only U.S. warfighters abroad but also the homeland.”
“The rapid growth of autonomous systems has far outpaced our ability to defend against them, and Aurelius is closing that gap with a defensive laser system that protects both troops and infrastructure without escalation,” said Julian Handel, Partner at KAS Venture Partners. “Michael is a uniquely talented and committed founder, and we are continually impressed by how quickly he is driving the company forward to deliver this critical capability.”
This funding builds on a series of recent milestones including an integration partnership with American Rheinmetall that expand deployment opportunities for its autonomous directed-energy platform, successful validation of interoperability and integration of command-and-control (C2) systems at Operation Jailbreak, platform validation at Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) 26-2, and continued investments in manufacturing and production readiness to support future growth.
Aurelius says it has 19 employees and expects to grow to more than 40 by the end of the year.
