SE3 raises $30 million from Accel for drones that work without GPS

SE3, a Munich start-up that builds "spatial intelligence" software for drones and other autonomous machines, has raised $30 million (about €27 million) in a Series A round led by the venture firm Accel, with Keen, Lakestar and Seedcamp also investing. The round was announced on Thursday, 12 November 2026. SE3's software lets drones and ground vehicles understand their surroundings and keep working when satellite navigation such as GPS is jammed or unavailable, and the company says it is already deployed in Ukraine.

Most drones depend on GPS to know where they are. In modern warfare, that is a weakness. In Ukraine, electronic warfare jams satellite navigation signals on a huge scale, which can leave drones blind or send them off course. SE3's answer is to make machines rely on what they can see instead. Its software takes the video and sensor feeds from several drones and ground vehicles and fuses them into one shared three-dimensional picture of the area. A machine that can recognise its surroundings can work out where it is without a satellite signal.

The company makes software only; the aircraft and vehicles come from other manufacturers, and its platform is designed to work across different makers' machines. That is a deliberate choice. Armed forces often use a mix of drones from several suppliers, and a single layer of software that lets them share one picture of the battlefield could be more valuable than any single airframe.

The round also shows that leading generalist venture firms are now willing to back defence-related software. Coverage of the round places it within a busy period for European defence start-ups, and an Amsterdam-based defence company raised $300 million in a separate Series A only days earlier.

For Indian readers, the problem SE3 is tackling is not limited to Europe. Any drone that depends on satellite navigation can be disrupted by jamming, so navigation that relies on what a machine can see is becoming a core requirement for military drones in general.

SE3 has said it expects robotics and civilian applications in 2027. The same ability to map surroundings without GPS is useful in places such as warehouses, mines, tunnels and dense cities, where satellite signals are weak.

Peepals calculation: The Series A of about €27 million is roughly five times the €5.5 million seed round SE3 raised in June 2026 (27 ÷ 5.5 ≈ 4.9). The planned growth from about 40 to about 120 employees would triple the team (120 ÷ 40 = 3). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: SE3 will hire engineers and commercial staff and open offices across Europe, including in London, Berlin, the Nordic and Baltic region and Poland, and strengthen its presence in Germany and Ukraine.

Long-term: If its software becomes a common layer across drone makers, SE3 could become an important supplier of battlefield awareness to European armed forces, and later to civilian robotics.

Who is affected: European armed forces and drone manufacturers, Ukrainian units using drones under heavy jamming, defence investors, and robotics companies that need navigation without GPS.

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