Kelluu, a Helsinki-based DeepTech company that claims to operate the world’s largest autonomous airship fleet, has raised €15 million in Series A funding to support international growth as it enters new markets this year. It will also be used to boost its tech and AI capabilities, fleet expansion, and hiring.
The round was led by the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), with participation from Amsterdam and London-based VC firm, Keen Venture Partners, alongside Swedish early-stage defence-focused VC Gungnir Capital, and Finnish state-owned investment company Tesi. This marks NIF’s first investment in a Finnish company, and follows Kelluu’s successful completion of two phases of NATO’s DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) programme.
Kelluu CEO Janne Hietala said, “We built Kelluu at the edge of Europe, in one of the hardest operating environments outside conflict zones, because we believe that persistent aerial intelligence would become critical infrastructure – not just for defence, but for the resilience of entire countries. That moment has arrived faster than anyone expected.
“Raising this funding crystalises an abundance of opportunities: the investment gives Kelluu a clear runway to further optimise our technology while continuing to scale the company and deliver constant operational excellence. The same platform that strengthens NATO’s Eastern Flank protects power grids, detects wildfires, and feeds the world foundation models that will define the next generation of physical AI. That’s not two separate missions – it’s one fleet, one data layer, building resilience across everything it covers.”
Founded in 2018 in Joensuu, Finland, Kelluu designs, manufactures and operates hydrogen-powered, lighter-than-air platforms that provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). Kelluu currently offers “airship-as-a-service” to customers across the defence, border security, critical infrastructure and environmental sectors.
Kelluu delivers 24/7 monitoring across vast areas and intelligence gathering with drone-level detail, with its unmanned airships. The company claims that the Kelluu fleet is unaffected by extreme weather, GPS jamming, high operational costs, and regulatory constraints, and can provide continuous coverage, data collection, and connectivity across wide and remote areas, enabling earlier threat detection and safer, more efficient operations
The company states that as Europe increases its defence investments to close urgent capability gaps, persistent ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) has become essential for strengthening NATO’s deterrence along the Eastern Flank, maritime approaches, and the High North.
Kelluu claims that its autonomous airships fill a key gap between satellites and drones by combining persistence with high-precision sensing. It highlights that satellites offer extensive coverage but often lack the resolution needed for many operational tasks. Drones can collect high-quality data, yet they are limited by their inability to stay airborne for long durations and face challenges in certain conditions, like icing and strong winds in the Arctic or complex airspace over crowded areas. Ground-based radars are stationary and thus more easily targeted.
Meanwhile, threats continue to evolve with hybrid operations, GNSS jamming, and electronic warfare becoming common along Europe’s borders.
Kelluu highlights that its near-silent, emission-free hydrogen-lift airships have been forged in the harsh operating environments along the Finland-Russia stretch and within reach of the Arctic Circle, and are designed for always-on sensing operations where conventional satellites and drones fail. Its autonomous hydrogen-powered airships can operate in temperatures as low as -33°C and through sustained GNSS jamming. Kelluu’s fleet has logged over 50,000 kilometres of flight, including 12-hour missions in Arctic conditions.
The Kelluu platform can currently operate for more than 12 hours and supports multiple sensing modalities while delivering real-time, ultra-high-quality imagery. The company highlights that five Kelluu airships operating from a single base can cover 30,000 square kilometres, equivalent to the area of Belgium.
In February 2026, during Exercise Steadfast Dart 26 in Germany, a 10,000-troop, 13-nation multi-domain NATO exercise, Kelluu completed a real-time integration with the Maven Smart System, delivering live video and geolocation data directly to allied forces from areas of interest.
Weeks earlier, Kelluu demonstrated persistent aerial autonomy and NATO-grade interoperability at the NATO Innovation Range Technical Demonstration for the Eastern Flank Deterrence Line in Finland. Alongside field testing with NATO forces this year, Kelluu has conducted exercises in Norway and with NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM).
Since 2024, the company has been part of NATO’s DIANA programme, chosen from more than 2,600 applicants as one of 15 members. Its data platform is designed for STANAG compliance and integrates directly with allied C2 systems to provide a Common Operational Picture.
Kelluu was founded as a dual-use company, with its fleet also protecting civilian infrastructure and assets. The company’s technology has demonstrated civilian applications in forestry monitoring, meteorology, and smart-city sensing, delivering high-resolution digital twins and cost advantages over manned aviation.
The company is additionally building Kelluu AI Labs, a geospatial enterprise that connects AI with the physical world by developing world foundation models for the physical environment.
Kelluu asserts that these models can be used in defence contexts to establish an AI baseline for border regions, with any deviations flagged. Infrastructure operators will also leverage these models to anticipate failures before weaknesses appear. Environmental agencies can take advantage of early detection systems trained on the natural evolution of ecosystems.
The Finnish company has secured €930k from the European Regional Development Fund through Finland’s ELY Centre to advance its “Digital Arctic Security from the Air” project, strengthening Europe’s Arctic and northern security capabilities and cross-border cooperation within the EU and NATO regions.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/04/finlands-kelluu-raises-e15-million-series-a-led-by-nato-innovation-fund-to-advance-persistent-aerial-intelligence/
