ctg. morning brief, 3 Nov 2026
On 3 Nov 2026, Munich's Hypersonica raised a €100m Series B co-led by Lightspeed and General Catalyst, with Plural and 201 Ventures back in. Sifted reports a valuation around €700m. That is nine months after a €23.2m Series A.
Why it matters: Its HS-1 prototype has already flown above Mach 6 over 300+ km, per the company. The target is a sovereign, ITAR-free hypersonic deep-strike system by 2029, sitting next to the UK-German Deep Precision Strike programme that the UK has put an initial £770m behind. Private money is now funding the missile itself, not just the drone around it.
Source: https://sifted.eu/articles/missile-startup-hypersonica-fundraise-lightspeed-general-catalyst-europe
Paris-based Gallium Defense came out of stealth with a €7.1m seed led by Keen Venture Partners and 360 Capital. Its GDS-10 is a software-defined X-band AESA radar built to spot FPV drones out to 10 km, designed for mass production.
Why it matters: Cheap drones keep beating expensive sensors on cost. Founded in April, about 15 people, two working antennas, Class 1 detection at 10 km in good weather, orders open Q1 2027 (via Tech.eu). The bet is radar priced like the threat.
Source: https://tech.eu/2026/11/02/gallium-defense-raises-eur71m-to-make-drone-detection-cheaper-and-scalable/
Berlin's AI task force wants Germany to be a sovereign AI nation by 2030: 18 measures, the state as anchor customer for European AI, and AI data center capacity up 300% on 2025, per the report Politico obtained.
Why it matters: The ambition is big, the financing is not there yet. The paper says its measures are not funding decisions. Bitkom's same-day survey of 603 firms: 96% want German AI, 64% won't pay more or accept less for it. Demand on paper, the budget still to come. Worth an edition on who actually builds the capacity.
Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/berlin-unveil-blueprint-catch-up-ai-artificial-intelligence/
Pelagon left stealth with an inception round from Seedcamp, Bpifrance, Elaia and Hexa. It builds underwater acoustic sensing, an AI model and an interceptor to guard ports, subsea cables and offshore energy, run as a managed service.
Why it matters: Commercially deployed in the Mediterranean since August, after a live Swedish trial in May, with Baltic and Black Sea deployments planned. The seabed is critical infrastructure, and now someone is selling protection for it as a subscription. Round size undisclosed.
Source: https://seedcamp.com/views/pelagon-emerges-from-stealth-bringing-physical-ai-to-critical-maritime-infrastructure/