High Lander reaches $30M in total funding as EDGE Group adds to its stake

TLDR

• High Lander's total funding reaches $30M, with more money from EDGE Group and participation from STEP, Protego and Kinetica.¹
• Calcalist puts the new money at $16M; ynet says the amount raised in this round was not disclosed.²³
• The Israeli firm is moving from drone traffic software into low-altitude airspace security for defence and homeland security buyers.¹

High Lander, a Tel Aviv company that makes software for autonomous aviation, drone fleet operations and airspace management, announced on 19 October 2026 that it has reached $30 million in total funding.¹ The latest financing includes an additional strategic investment from EDGE Group and participation from STEP, Protego and Kinetica.¹ The release names no lead investor and does not give the size of the round. Calcalist reports that High Lander raised an additional $16 million, completing a Series A in which it had previously raised $14 million.² ynet reports that the company did not disclose the amount raised in the latest financing and that $30 million is its cumulative total.³ The two reports agree on the total but not on the new money.

High Lander says its Orion platform manages drone fleets and its Vega platform handles unmanned traffic management.¹ It is now adding Andromeda, an AI-powered platform that builds a single operational picture of low-altitude airspace from sensors and effectors made by different vendors, helping operators tell authorised activity from unidentified or unauthorised aircraft.¹ The company plans to use the capital for expansion in the United States and other markets and to extend its technology into defence, homeland security and dual-use applications.¹ Calcalist adds that High Lander is setting up a US hub with control rooms and a testing and demonstration centre for partner technologies.² It also notes that Israel has regulatory initiatives under way to broaden drone monitoring and identification, and plans for a national civil authority for low-altitude airspace.²

The release describes EDGE Group's investment as deepening an existing strategic relationship, and does not say whether STEP, Protego or Kinetica held stakes before this round.¹ EDGE, the UAE defence conglomerate, announced a "strategic" $14 million investment in High Lander in January 2023, and its chairman called EDGE a major shareholder, according to Breaking Defense.⁴ The report said the UTM system could serve EDGE's drones, including the Hunter-2S and the Shadow 25 and 50 UAVs, and that EDGE saw the arrangement as covering both military and civilian uses.⁴ STEP is a Houston-based investment fund focused on companies in unmanned systems and counter-UAS; in May 2026 it announced that High Lander had joined its ecosystem as the software layer for aerial operations.⁷

Protego and Kinetica are both Israeli defence-focused funds. Protego, which calls itself Israel's first dedicated defence fund, closed a $125 million Fund I on 29 September 2026.⁵ It led the $70 million Series B of XTEND, whose AI operating system controls tactical drones and robots and which has since listed on the New York Stock Exchange at a $1.5 billion valuation, and it also backs ASIO, a company working on autonomy and resilient navigation for contested environments.⁵ Kinetica invests from pre-seed to Series A, mainly in defence companies but also in dual-use technology, and had deployed close to $20 million across six companies as of November 2025, including Particle, which works on electronic warfare and an energy weapon for air defence.⁶

Why it matters: the round shows investors backing drone traffic-management software as it widens into airspace security, with a UAE defence group adding to its position in an Israeli company that is now building a US base.