Nordic Air Defence secures €1.2 mn strategic investment to further mission to ensure European resilience and autonomy – offering homegrown, international supply chain-free drone defence tech
Stockholm, Tuesday 12 November 2024 – Nordic Air Defence(www.nordicairdefence.com), the Swedish defence tech startup which provides homegrown cutting-edge drone defence technology, removing the Continent’s dependence on US and global supply chains, today announces a €1.2 million investment.
Nordic Air Defence was co-founded by entrepreneur Karl Rosander(founder of some of Scandinavia’s most successful startups including podcasting platform, Acast). This funding, led by Norway’s SNÖ Ventures(www.sno.vc), represents the second close of a larger strategic round – to be used to accelerate R&D and airborne testing – ahead of the company’s forthcoming seed round. Those participating in this second close were individuals with whom Nordic Air Defence has established relationships, and provide strategic value for the company. Private investors include Noam Perski, who joins Nordic Air Defence as a strategic advisor. New investors joining the Nordic Air Defence board, also investing in a personal capacity, are Northzoneco-founder, Jörgen Bladh, and Jan Gurander, former naval officer and former Deputy CEO and CFO of Volvo Group(who also was responsible for Volvo’s various defence businesses) and Chairman of the board at Essityand board member at Skanska. They join existing board members, Chairman, JohanAhlberg(former senior partner at McKinsey & Company, also investing in this round), Erik Fredlund(founder of AI consulting firm, Codon), and Nordic Air Defence co-founder, Gustav Wiberg(co-founder of Katla Aero).
This represents Oslo-based SNÖ Ventures’ first defence tech investment, having previously invested in some of the region’s most innovative startups, including IntuiCell, PortalOne, Speechly (acquired by Roblox), and chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen’s latest company, Take Take Take.
Emerging from stealth mode in September 2024, Nordic Air Defence unveiled its first product: the Kreuger 100 dual-use (civil and military) drone interceptor platform. By cutting much of the hardware previously required by drone interceptors, and replacing it with software, the Kreuger 100 is ten times cheaper to produce per unit than conventional anti-drone technology, such as interceptors or missiles. This allows for mass manufacturing, and results in customers being able to scale their arsenals of interceptors to meet threats. It is also battery-powered and extremely lightweight for optimum portability.
Karl Rosander, CEO and founder of Nordic Air Defencesays: “In the weeks since we emerged from stealth mode, the enthusiasm for our product has allowed us to close a strategic round and secure the support of a group of world class innovators and sector experts: a significant achievement for a company at our early stage. This investment will accelerate Nordic Air Defence’s development as a business in terms of development and staffing and help bring the Kreuger 100 to the market faster. Great news for Nordic Air Defence, but also for those who appreciate that a new kind of European defence tech ecosystem needs to be kickstarted. Europe has, for too long, proved reliant on US support and international supply chains: established and emerging threats to our democracies make this an untenable position. The global defence tech sector has become oligarchical and slow-moving, and is ripe for disruption. The urgency around the need to create COVID vaccines, which necessitated rapid public sector and private collaboration and innovation, breaking established rules, must be applied to European defence tech. Nordic Air Defence is here to change the paradigm.”
The nature of drone conflict is rapidly evolving, and traditional jammers and kinetic technology, as well as being expensive to produce, are becoming obsolete against modern threats. Nordic Air Defence is committed to continuing its development of homegrown drone defence solutions, eventually diversifying into land, sea and subsea defence as well as expansion into more global markets. Max Samuel, Partner at SNÖ Venturescomments: “The established defence primes have built a system of bloated costs and stunted innovation, leaving Europe dependent on foreign technology and inefficient incumbents. NAD exemplifies the necessary transformation: private European-built defence technology that leverages software innovation to dramatically reduce costs and accelerate development cycles. This isn’t just about disrupting legacy players – it’s about building the technological sovereignty Europe urgently needs.”
Photos courtesy NAD
