$30m · Series A · Software · Munich, Germany
Munich-based SE3, which builds spatial-intelligence software for autonomous systems, has raised $30m in Series A funding. Accel led the round, with Keen Venture Partners, Lakestar and Seedcamp participating. The company plans to expand its engineering, commercial and operations teams and open offices across several European markets.
A software layer across mixed fleets
SE3 combines computer vision and AI to turn video and other sensor feeds from drones and ground vehicles into a shared three-dimensional view. Its software is designed to run at the edge, including when satellite navigation or communications are disrupted, and to work across machines from different manufacturers rather than inside a single vendor's closed stack.
That platform position is the commercial proposition. Defence customers increasingly need aircraft, ground vehicles, sensors and command systems from several suppliers to operate together. A neutral spatial-intelligence layer can make each hardware integration useful across a wider fleet and reduce dependence on one manufacturer. The constraint is that interoperability is earned one interface, security review and field validation at a time; SE3 has to standardise enough of that work for revenue to grow faster than bespoke engineering effort.
Fortune reports that operators can query the shared map and issue mission commands in natural language, while conventional planning software handles tasks such as route calculation. Customers can keep a human approval step for consequential actions, and the system can operate offline. Those design choices matter in defence deployments, where reliability, operator control and data sovereignty are procurement requirements rather than optional product settings.
Field deployment is ahead of fleet command
SE3 says it has shipped thousands of systems over the past two years and is deployed in Ukraine. Accel says the company is working on contracts with Ukraine and Germany's armed forces and partners with HENSOLDT, Auterion and ERC System. The evidence is strongest for foundational capabilities such as GPS-independent localisation; co-founder and CEO Lukas Köstler told Fortune that higher-level fleet command remains less mature and needs another one to two years of development.
The Series A therefore finances both scale and product completion. SE3 expects to grow from roughly 40 employees to about 120 and establish offices in London, Berlin, the Nordics and Baltics, and Poland. Its founders met in Professor Daniel Cremers' computer-vision lab at the Technical University of Munich. Defence is the near-term revenue focus, while a smaller team will explore civilian robotics, where the same ability to understand dynamic physical environments could apply after the software proves dependable in its most demanding market.
