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Paris-based Gallium Defense exited stealth in November 2026 with a €7.1M seed round to build drone-detection radar at a fraction of incumbent prices.
Key Takeaways
- Gallium Defense raised a €7.1M seed round, led by Keen Venture Partners and 360 Capital, announced on November 2, 2026.
- Its GDS-10 radar targets FPV and Class 1 drones at 10 km, with commercial orders opening in Q1 2027.
- The company is pre-revenue, about 15 staff, and has not disclosed a valuation.
Lead
Gallium Defense, a Paris startup founded in April 2026, came out of stealth on November 2 with a €7.1M seed round. Keen Venture Partners and 360 Capital led the round, with Omnes Capital and Polytechnique Ventures also participating. The announcement landed during European Defence Week in Paris, held November 2 to 6.
The company is building the GDS-10, a software-defined X-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. It is designed to spot small first-person-view (FPV) and Class 1 drones at up to 10 kilometres. Valuation was not disclosed.
What Does the GDS-10 Actually Do?
The GDS-10 detects and tracks small drones in three dimensions, with 360-degree azimuth and 90-degree elevation coverage. It tracks several targets at once and is built to work in all weather and under electronic jamming. An AI-based software layer handles classification.
Gallium plans two versions: one for critical infrastructure and one for military users. The antenna draws on gallium-based components common in 5G telecommunications, a supply chain far larger than the defence niche. Two operational antennas exist, and the company has demonstrated detection of Class 1 drones at 10 km.
Why Is Price the Pitch?
Price is the pitch because the company says affordable radars for small drones barely exist. It is targeting roughly €500,000 per unit, against the €2M to €5M often charged for comparable systems. Chief executive Eric Fournier, formerly of Boston Consulting Group, describes the design goal as meeting 80% of the need at 20% of the price.
That framing is a trade-off, not a free lunch. Cheaper radar implies narrower performance margins, and no independent testing of Gallium's range or false-alarm rates has been published. The radar is only now entering field trials.
Who Is Behind the Company?
Fournier leads with two co-founders: CTO Florian Lemoine, previously at NATO, and COO Robin Mandel, formerly of Thales and Safran. The mix covers strategy, alliance procurement and incumbent defence supply chains. Antenna testing began in December 2025, months before the company was formally founded.
The team numbers about 15 and is expected to reach 17 by the end of 2026. Management plans 30 to 50 employees in 2027, depending on sales.
How Will the Money Be Spent?
The money will go to industrialising production of the first radars, building supply chains, training AI models and running demonstrations for operators across Europe and NATO-allied countries. Commercial orders are scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2027.
The company reports six potential customers in its pipeline and aims for roughly €6M in orders in 2027. Six prospects is a modest pipeline for a hardware business, and at a €500,000 price point, €6M implies about a dozen units. Fournier has said the strategy is to be a supplier integrated by the large defence primes rather than to sell complete systems alone.
Competitive Context
Gallium enters a field that includes Robin Radar Systems, Echodyne, Chaos Industries, Alta Ares and Cambridge Aerospace. Several are better funded and already fielding product. Demand has risen as cheap FPV drones have become standard on the battlefield and as airports and energy sites in Europe have faced drone incursions.
A seed round of €7.1M is small by defence-hardware standards, where a single radar programme can consume multiples of that. Investors are in effect backing a team and a cost thesis, since there is no revenue yet. The round also suggests that European venture funds are now comfortable writing defence cheques at the earliest stage, a shift from the sector's historical reliance on state money.
What Comes Next?
The next milestones are field trials, the first customer demonstrations and the opening of orders in Q1 2027. The trial results matter most: if the GDS-10 holds its 10 km range in cluttered, jammed environments at the target price, the cost argument becomes credible. If performance falls short of the 80% mark, incumbents with proven systems keep their advantage.
Production is the second test. Moving from two working antennas to serial manufacturing is where many hardware startups lose time and cash, and a seed round of this size leaves limited room for delay before a Series A.
Outlook
Gallium Defense has money, a price target and a 2027 order window, but no revenue and no independent validation yet. The round signals investor appetite for low-cost counter-drone sensing in Europe. Field-trial data over the next two quarters will decide whether the "80% of the need at 20% of the price" claim holds.
