NestAI raised €100M in a strategic funding round in November 2025 led by Nokia and Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd). The round represents the company's Series A, though specific valuation details were not disclosed.

The company was initially self-funded by PostScriptum in early 2025 following its incorporation in November 2024. Nokia's participation as both investor and strategic partner reflects the integration of NestAI's AI systems with Nokia's secure 5G/6G communications infrastructure.

Tesi's involvement as Finland's sovereign investment fund underscores the strategic importance of NestAI's technology for European defense autonomy. The €100M funding round positions NestAI among the largest defense AI funding rounds in Europe.

NestAI builds AI software that serves as both the brain and mission control center for military drone and robot fleets.

The autonomy stack runs on small edge computers mounted directly onto air, land, or sea platforms. When a camera or LiDAR feed comes in, the AI processes raw sensor data into obstacle maps, plans safe routes, and continuously adapts as vehicles move through environments.

The system is deliberately modular and hardware-agnostic, allowing defense contractors to integrate their own sensors or weapons through published APIs. Operators can issue high-level commands in natural language like scan sector and report vehicles rather than writing code, with the AI translating these instructions into detailed mission plans.

The command-and-control suite runs on laptops or tactical operations center displays, ingesting live video, location tracking, intelligence data, and sensor feeds from every NestAI-equipped vehicle. The AI fuses this information into a unified operational picture that commanders can query in natural language, asking questions like which assets can reach a specific grid location within 10 minutes.

Nokia's secure 4G/5G/6G communications provide the low-latency uplinks connecting edge systems to the central command platform. All mission data flows back into a central data repository that continuously retrains the perception models, making the entire system smarter with each deployment.

NestAI operates a B2B software licensing model targeting defense organizations and government agencies. The company sells both edge autonomy software that runs on individual platforms and centralized command-and-control systems that coordinate multiple assets.

The go-to-market approach focuses on direct relationships with defense ministries and prime contractors, leveraging Finland's NATO membership and Nokia's established defense relationships for market access. Initial deployments typically begin as pilot programs that expand into larger fleet-wide implementations.

Revenue comes from software licensing fees, integration services, and ongoing support contracts. The modular architecture allows customers to start with specific capabilities and expand over time, creating natural upsell opportunities as defense organizations scale their autonomous systems.

The partnership with Nokia provides both technical integration and market access, with Nokia's secure communications infrastructure becoming a key differentiator in government procurement processes. This bundled approach allows NestAI to compete against larger defense contractors while maintaining focus on AI software development rather than hardware manufacturing.

The business model benefits from long defense procurement cycles and multi-year contracts typical in the sector, providing revenue visibility once initial deployments prove successful. The data-centric architecture creates switching costs as the system becomes more capable through accumulated mission data.

Anduril represents the dominant force in this category, with a $28B valuation and major contracts including an $86M USSOCOM autonomy deal. Their Lattice platform coordinates autonomous swarms and powers both Replicator and USMC programs.

Anduril's vertical integration strategy includes building their own Omen drones and Arsenal-1 weapons factory, creating a full-stack approach that contrasts with NestAI's software-focused model.

Shield AI offers a more comparable approach with their Hivemind autonomy kit that can be installed on existing platforms like the MQ-20 Avenger. Their platform-agnostic strategy mirrors NestAI's modular architecture, though Shield AI has deeper penetration in US defense markets.

Helsing leads European defense AI with significant funding and a major Eurofighter electronic warfare contract worth hundreds of millions of euros. Their acquisition of Blue Ocean for underwater autonomous vehicles shows aggressive expansion across domains.

Applied Intuition provides vendor-agnostic simulation platforms for autonomous vehicles, with revenue growth driven by expansion beyond passenger cars into defense and industrial applications. Their diversification strategy offers a template for NestAI's potential market expansion.

Quantum Systems demonstrates successful pivot from civilian to military drone applications, particularly in European defense markets. Their Mosaic platform shows how European companies can build sustainable defense AI businesses through NATO procurement channels.

Traditional defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Saab, and Rheinmetall are integrating AI capabilities into existing platforms to protect their hardware franchises. These companies have established customer relationships and long-term platform contracts but typically lack the AI-native development capabilities of startups.

Nokia's partnership with NestAI reflects how telecommunications and technology incumbents are entering defense AI through strategic alliances rather than organic development.

European militaries want to upgrade existing ground vehicles, ships, and manned aircraft with autonomous capabilities rather than replacing entire fleets. NestAI's modular software stack positions it to capture retrofit opportunities across the €100B+ EU equipment modernization budget.

Packaging the autonomy software with edge computing hardware and Nokia's secure communications creates turnkey upgrade kits for armored personnel carriers, patrol boats, and other legacy platforms.

The shift toward software-defined military systems creates opportunities to add AI capabilities to platforms originally designed for human operation, expanding the addressable market beyond purpose-built autonomous systems.

The Nokia partnership emphasizes applications beyond pure defense into critical infrastructure protection. Ports, energy facilities, and transportation networks increasingly require drone-based inspection and perimeter security capabilities.

Commercial drone markets are growing faster than military segments, with civil security applications forecast to expand at 32% annually through 2030. Adapting defense-grade AI for industrial safety standards opens access to this larger adjacent market.

Critical infrastructure customers often have less complex procurement processes than defense agencies while still requiring the security and reliability features that differentiate NestAI from commercial drone software providers.

Finland's NATO accession and Nokia's established relationships with Five Eyes countries provide structured pathways for international expansion. EU defense spending crossing the 2% GDP threshold creates budget availability for AI system procurement.

Many smaller NATO allies lack domestic AI development capabilities but need sovereign command-and-control systems. White-label deployments with local language support could expand the customer base without triggering technology transfer restrictions.

The standardization requirements of NATO interoperability create opportunities for NestAI's modular architecture to become a common platform across multiple allied nations, similar to how standardized communications protocols enabled Nokia's historical success.

Technology sovereignty: European defense AI programs are under pressure to prove independence from US and Chinese technology stacks. Any perception that NestAI relies on non-European AI models or cloud infrastructure could limit government adoption and force costly re-architecting of core systems.

Scale competition: Anduril and other well-funded US competitors have a record of winning large-scale contracts and building vertically integrated capabilities. NestAI's software-focused approach may be disadvantaged versus competitors that offer complete hardware-software solutions backed by billions in funding and established Pentagon relationships.

Procurement cycles: Defense technology adoption typically requires years of testing, certification, and bureaucratic approval before reaching meaningful scale. NestAI's current funding runway may not align with the extended timelines required to convert pilot programs into major recurring revenue streams across multiple European defense ministries.