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Granta Autonomy, a specialist in fully autonomous UAVs for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, has successfully completed its €1 million seed funding round.
ScaleWolf VC, the leading Lithuanian dual-use tech VC Fund and Accelerator, led the round, with participation from Brolis Defence and HFL holdings. The new capital will enable Granta Autonomy to accelerate the development and production of its cutting-edge lightweight surveillance and reconnaissance UAVs, micro gimbals, and digital Datalink software, which its team has personally tested in active battlefields.
Granta Autonomy has been developing reconnaissance remote-controlled UAV aircraft, lightweight gimbals, and its unique Datalink software since 2015. The company now provides NATO forces across Europe with its range of hand-launched Hornet UAVs while also providing a range of partners with its proprietary, ultra-reliable, lightweight micro gimbals, which are the lightest direct drive gimbals on the market.
Granta Autonomy’s micro gimbals feature a powerful camera system that allows for clear daytime image capture at distances up to 5km and provides vital thermal vision for nighttime operations, ensuring mission success around the clock.
Granta Autonomy’s latest UAV, the Hornet XR, is a small, hard-to-detect, hand-launched mini reconnaissance UAV with several critical features for covert missions. With a simple throw take-off and a silent flight lasting up to 3 hours, it can cover distances up to 160km undetected.
Pre-programmed missions ensure autonomous operation, even in radio silence or GNSS-denied environments. The ultra-lightweight aircraft lands itself using a deep-stall method, making it easy to retrieve in tight spaces, and its compact, modular design allows for convenient transport in a car trunk.
Granta Autonomy’s powerful but lightweight GS-214X and GS-218X micro gimbal systems enable Hornets and other third-party drones to capture sharp images from long distances during the day and include a thermal camera for missions at night. Granta Autonomy’s Digital Datalink software ensures the gimbal integrates with most Ground Control Station (GCS) software.
Gediminas Guoba, founder and CEO of Granta Autonomy, commented; “The traditional battlefield is evolving, and Western armies require robust, reliable, and flexible solutions. Granta Autonomy is committed to ensuring our systems can be readily manufactured across Europe, reducing reliance on external sources. Today’s funding enables us to ramp up our production capacity to deliver the large-scale deployments Europe needs.
“However, our focus goes beyond just numbers; our team works directly with soldiers on the battlefield, testing our products and software in combat zones and collaborating on solutions that excel in the toughest conditions. This battlefield experience, valued by our Western partners, fuels our mission to revolutionize drone reconnaissance for global militaries.”
He continued; “The Hornet XR exemplifies our design philosophy, which is rooted in the expertise of our military UAV operators and engineers, delivering industry-leading flight time, simple operation, and rugged durability, which brings greater efficiencies, lower costs, and unmatched reliability to complex, multi-disciplinary missions.”
