SE3 Raises $30 Million Series A for Spatial Intelligence Software

SE3 has raised $30 million in Series A funding to scale spatial intelligence software for autonomous systems that must operate when GPS and communications fail. Accel led the round. Keen Venture Partners joined, alongside continued backing from Lakestar and Seedcamp.

The Munich-based company builds software that turns visual and other sensor data into a spatial understanding of a machine's surroundings. The point is simple: unmanned systems need to perceive, reason and act when electronic warfare, satellite navigation interference or harsh physical conditions knock out conventional positioning. SE3's technology is already deployed in Ukraine.

What does the software actually do?

SE3's architecture is platform-agnostic. It connects autonomous systems from different manufacturers and merges their sensor data into a shared three-dimensional representation of the environment. Everything runs at the edge — no external connectivity or cloud infrastructure required. A single operator can command multiple systems through voice controls.

The company doesn't compete with hardware makers. It works with them, supplying software that slots into vehicles and robotic platforms from multiple suppliers. That positioning aligns with the defense industry's push toward modularity and interoperability across vendors.

SE3 says it has shipped thousands of systems over the past two years. Its partners include Ukrainian organizations, Germany's Bundeswehr, major defense contractors and autonomy software providers.

Who built it?

CEO Lukas Köstler, CTO Simon Klenk and Chief Science Officer Professor Daniel Cremers founded SE3 as a spinout from Cremers' computer vision laboratory at the Technical University of Munich. Köstler and Klenk were doctoral researchers at the university before commercializing the technology.

Tomek Lepka, Investment Manager at Keen Venture Partners, framed the company's trajectory in one line: "Autonomous systems can see, but very few have a sense of place. SE3 gives them one. In just two years, Lukas, Simon and Daniel have taken it from a university lab to thousands of systems in the field, including in Ukraine. Defense is where Europe needs this most, and the hardest place to get it right. Technology that works there will work anywhere."

Why did Keen Venture Partners invest?

Keen participated through its €200 million European Defence Space & Security Fund, which backs European companies across defense, space and security. The firm plans to open its network of defense ministries, military organizations and industry players to help SE3 validate the technology and expand deployment.

Alexander Ribbink, General Partner at Keen Venture Partners, tied the deal to a bigger European agenda: "Autonomy in contested environments is a sovereignty question for Europe. SE3 combines deep research with an architecture that hardware manufacturers can adopt without being forced to re-engineer their systems, a great example of new defense tech integrating seamlessly with existing hardware. We are proud to back Lukas, Simon, Daniel and the rest of the team on this."

What comes next?

The new capital will fund wider adoption of the spatial intelligence platform across autonomous systems. Defense is the immediate market — machines operating under communications disruption and navigation denial are exactly the use case SE3 built for. The company says the underlying capabilities could also extend to industrial robotics and other commercial autonomous platforms.

The round signals growing investor appetite for software that runs across multiple hardware platforms and strengthens the independence of autonomous machines. For European defense organizations, that technology increasingly serves a second purpose: building regional technological sovereignty.