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

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

Harmattan AI, which builds autonomy and mission system software for defense aircraft, had already received strong validation signals from the French and British defense ministries in its less than two years of existence. But this financing and the associated partnership will give new wings to a company that once existed described himself as a ‘European Anduril’.

Like its American counterpart, Harmattan AI once aspired to overtake the established defense forces, known as primes. But the company is now also willing to work with them – even if that means no longer call itself “a next-generation defense first.”

According to Harmattan’s latest press release, now “defense technology company” Dassault Aviation will help shape the future of air combat by developing embedded AI capabilities for the next generations of Rafales and drones, while ensuring this deployment is both sovereign and scalable.

The use of drones in Ukraine has been a wake-up call for NATO’s militaries, giving defense technology startups a tailwind that could help them adapt. According to Harmattan AI, which recently partnered Together with Russian drone maker Skyeton, the funding will help the company expand its product offering into new domains and scale up production of its drone interception, electronic warfare and ISR platforms. [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance].

French President Emmanuel Macron praised the announcement on social mediacalling it “excellent news for our strategic autonomy, for the technological superiority of our armed forces in the field of AI-enabled defense drones, but also for our economy.”

Although important for France, this strategic game is not exclusive. Harmattan AI’s stated goal of “strengthening the armed forces of liberal democracies and their allies” leaves the company some leeway to sell its technology outside France and Europe. The company is already putting this into practice: it will happen exhibition next month at the World Defense Show in Riyadh, and is expanding his American team.

The company claimed a new record in July when it was promised a “multi-million dollar contract by a NATO government” to supply AI-enabled small drones just one year after its creation. But according to its CEO and co-founder, Mouad M’Ghari, Harmattan AI is now “entering a new phase of scale” as it strives to “ramp up production.”

The same in that LinkedIn messagethe entrepreneur announced that the new funding is in addition to the $42 million raised by Harmattan AI to date, including a seed round led by Atlantic and a Series A led by FirstMark, with other backers including Motier Ventures and Sisyphus Ventures.

Meanwhile, Martin de Gourcuff, CTO and co-founder of Harmattan AI chosen a different note with political undertones. “As the international order goes off the rails,” he wrote, “we are entering an era where power increasingly precedes law. An inversion of the civilized world we strive for. Harmattan AI exists to protect our values ​​and reverse that relationship, since power without law is nothing but violence.”