Gallium Defence Secures €7.1Mn to Make Drone Detection More Affordable

The funding round was led by Keen Venture Partners and 360 Capital. Omnes Capital and Polytechnique Ventures also participated.

Gallium Defence aims to make drone detection more affordable and accessible by offering a lower-cost alternative to existing systems.

“As drones proliferate, traditional radars are reaching their operational and economic limits. At Gallium Defense, we started from a blank sheet with a simple question, asked by operators in the field: how do you meet 80% of the need at 20% of the price? Our answer: a radically rethought AESA radar architecture that makes extensive use of commercial off-the-shelf components and the power of embedded computing,” said Fournier, CEO and co-founder of Gallium Defense.

“Our radars are designed to be manufactured and deployed by the hundreds, not one at a time,” said Mandel, COO and co-founder of Gallium Defense.

“Great defence starts with superior visibility. Gallium Defense has the team, the industrial partners and the cost model to make drone detection a standard layer at every critical site – the kind of European capability our fund is proud to back,” said Alexander Ribbink, General Partner, Keen Venture Partners.

Gallium Defence was founded in April 2026 by Eric Fournier, Florian Lemoine and Robin Mandel. The three founders have strong backgrounds in the defence and industrial sectors.

Eric Fournier spent 17 years advising defence and aerospace companies at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Florian Lemoine has more than 15 years of defence experience and previously worked as an adviser to NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT).

Robin Mandel also has over 15 years of experience in industry and consulting. He has worked with companies such as Thales, BCG and Safran.

According to the company, more than 80% of critical infrastructure sites and military assets remain at risk from modern drone threats. One major reason is the lack of affordable radar systems that can be quickly deployed. Gallium Defence aims to solve this problem by developing high-performance, lower-cost radar systems for air security and defence.