Harmattan AI raises $200M Series B led by Dassault Aviation, becomes defense unicorn

French defense technology company Harmattan AI is growing as fast as the rise of its new backer’s supersonic jets. Founded in 2024, the company is now valued at $1.4 billion after raising a $200 million Series B round led by Dassault Aviation, best known for manufacturing the Rafale fighter jet.

Harmattan AI, which builds autonomous control and mission system software for defense aircraft, has received strong verification signals from the French and British Defense Ministries in less than two years of its existence. But this funding and the accompanying partnership would give new wings to the company that once described itself as the “European Anduril.”

Like its American counterpart, Harmattan AI once aspired to surpass incumbent defense companies, also known as primes. But the company is now also willing to partner with them — even if it means stopping calling itself a “next-generation flagship defense company.”

According to Harmattan’s latest press release, the Defense Technology Company will now help Dassault Aviation shape the future of air combat by developing embedded AI capabilities for next generations of Rafale aircraft and drones while ensuring that this implementation is sovereign and scalable.

The use of drones in Ukraine has been a wake-up call for NATO militaries, creating tailwinds for defense technology startups that can help them adapt. According to Harmattan AI, which recently entered into a partnership with Russian drone maker Skyeton, the funding will help it expand its product range into new areas and expand the manufacturing of its platforms for drone interception, electronic warfare, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance].

French President Emmanuel Macron praised the announcement on social media, calling it “excellent news for our strategic independence, for the technological superiority of our armed forces in the field of artificial intelligence-powered defensive drones, and for our economy.”

Despite its importance to France, this strategic game is not exclusive. Harmattan AI’s stated goal of “empowering the armed forces of liberal democracies and their allies” leaves room for maneuver for the company to sell its technology outside France and Europe. The company is already on the road: it will be exhibiting at the World Defense Expo in Riyadh next month, and is expanding its US team.

The company set a new record in July when it was awarded a “multi-million dollar contract by the NATO government” to deliver small, artificial intelligence-powered drones, just one year after it was founded. But according to its CEO and co-founder, Moaz Maghari, Harmattan AI is now entering a “new phase of scale” in its quest to “ramp up manufacturing.”

In the same LinkedIn post, the entrepreneur revealed that the new funding comes on top of the $42 million that Harmattan AI has raised to date, including a seed round led by Atlantic and an A round led by FirstMark, with other backers including Motier Ventures and Sisyphus Ventures.

Meanwhile, CTO and co-founder of Harmattan AI, Martin de Jourcuff, has chosen a different, more political tone. “With the international order off track, we are entering an era where force increasingly precedes law. It is the opposite of the trend of the civilized world we strive for. Harmattan AI exists to protect our values ​​and turn this relationship backwards, because force without law is just violence,” he wrote.