Alta Ares: AI-Native Air Defense, Built on the Battlefield

OTB invests in Alta Ares's €50 million Series A to scale a full, AI-native air defense stack proven in active conflict

We are pleased to announce OTB Ventures' investment in Alta Ares's €50 million Series A, led by Air Street Capital, with participation from Cherry Ventures, Harpoon Ventures and Expansion Ventures. Alta Ares is a French defense technology company building a complete, AI-native air defense system that detects, tracks and intercepts aerial threats, from low-cost attack drones to cruise missiles and glide bombs. Founded in 2024, the company has moved from inception to operational deployment in under two years, with systems currently in use across three active conflict zones.

Why air defense needs a new approach

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have exposed the limits of legacy air defense. Cheap, mass-produced drones and loitering munitions can be built for tens of thousands of euros, while the missiles traditionally used to stop them cost far more and are produced at a fraction of the rate. That asymmetry does not scale: a single coordinated attack can now combine hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in one night. Systems designed to intercept a limited number of aircraft and cruise missiles were never built for saturation at this volume. NATO nations are expected to spend around €10 billion on counter-drone systems by 2030.

A full, AI-native air defense stack

Alta Ares began by deploying AI software on drones in Ukraine and has since expanded into a complete, integrated system. Rather than a single product, it brings together:

• Pixel Lock: on-edge AI for detection, tracking and terminal guidance, designed to operate in GPS-denied and electronically contested environments.
• Data fusion and command-and-control software that integrates third-party sensors and radars.
• Two interceptor platforms:
  • X-Lock: a short-range interceptor for threats such as Shahed-136-type drones.
  • Black Bird: a turbojet-powered interceptor for high-speed targets including Kh-101 cruise missiles and FAB-500 glide bombs.

Because Alta Ares owns the software and AI layer while remaining agnostic at the sensor and command-and-control layers, its systems are designed to integrate into a customer's existing air picture rather than replace it.

Built and proven in the field

A defining feature of Alta Ares's approach is its direct exposure to live operations. Its systems are deployed simultaneously across three active conflict zones in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, generating continuous battlefield data that feeds back into its AI models. The interceptors have been validated in extreme conditions, from cold-weather trials in Estonia to desert testing at over 50°C. In March 2025, Alta Ares won a NATO innovation award following a test campaign at the French defense procurement agency's (DGA) Biscarrosse facility.

Scaling production and international expansion

The €50 million round will fund industrial scale-up, continued product development and international growth. Alta Ares plans to increase production capacity at its facilities in Toulouse, France, and in Ukraine, open new offices in the Middle East and Asia, and expand its engineering and operations teams, roughly doubling its headcount by the end of the year. The company is supported by a senior defense advisory board, including General Philippe Lavigne, former Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, and General Corentin Lancrenon.

Defense and dual-use technologies are a core focus for OTB. Alta Ares fits squarely within our thesis of backing European founders building critical infrastructure for the continent's security and technological sovereignty, with technology developed and validated under real operational conditions rather than in the lab.

Read more: https://sifted.eu/articles/alta-ares-defence-tech-50m-round